New Delhi: The New York Times has in an investigation report titled “The Battle for the World’s Most Powerful Cyberweapon” said the Israeli spyware Pegasus was sold to India.
“In July 2017, Narendra Modi, who won office on a platform of Hindu nationalism, became the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel,” the report published in the New York Times on Friday said.
“For decades, India had maintained a policy of what it called ‘commitment to the Palestinian cause,’ and relations with Israel were frosty,” the report added.
The report further said Prime Minister Modi’s “visit, however, was notably cordial, complete with a carefully staged moment of him” and then Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu “walking together barefoot on a local beach”.
“They had reason for the warm feelings. Their countries had agreed on the sale of a package of sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear worth roughly $2 billion — with Pegasus and a missile system as the centerpieces,” the report added.
Suggesting that Israel reaped diplomatic gains around the world from the Pegasus spyware, the report said: “Months later, Netanyahu made a rare state visit to India. And in June 2019, India voted in support of Israel at the UN’s Economic and Social Council to deny observer status to a Palestinian human rights organization, a first for the nation.”
New Delhi has, however, so far neither denied nor confirmed firmly that it had bought the Israeli spyware.
This comes as an international investigative consortium had earlier claimed that many Indian ministers, politicians, activists, businessmen and journalists were potentially targeted by the NSO Group’s phone hacking software.
Pegasus, which can crack the encrypted communications of any iPhone or Android smartphone, was basically meant for use against terrorists and serious criminals.