Israeli Spy Software in Saudi Hands

As Israeli media report that Benjamin Netanyahu is working to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia in the coming months, the American newspaper Washington Post claims that Israel has granted permission to sell Israeli spy software to the Saudis in exchange for Saudi support in confronting Iran. The Israeli company selling the software stated that it does not disclose the names of its customer countries, emphasizing that its activities are licensed by the Israeli government. Channel 2 of Israeli television reported on Saturday evening, December 8, that the Prime Minister is interested in normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia before the Israeli parliamentary elections to leverage this in the elections. Netanyahu expressed hope last month that the government would continue its work until the end of its legal term (until November 2019), after overcoming several political crises that threatened the survival of his government. However, evidence suggests that elections will be held much sooner; leaders of the ruling Likud party have stated that Netanyahu himself estimates elections will take place in May, while the opposition considers March to mid-April a suitable time for elections. Channel 2 added that Yossi Cohen, head of the Mossad intelligence agency, who has played a role in Israel's relations with Arab countries and facilitated Netanyahu's unprecedented visit to Oman two months ago, is helping Netanyahu establish relations with the Saudis, with the United States also participating in this effort. The report added that during the 'international crisis' surrounding the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Netanyahu 'stood behind bin Salman.' After his trip to Oman, Netanyahu confirmed that 'other trips to countries with which Israel has not had relations are forthcoming.' Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Bahrain's foreign minister, has recently made several statements legitimizing Israel's existence and actions; he also referred to Hezbollah's infiltration tunnels as 'a threat to Lebanon's stability' and implicitly supported the Israeli army's operations in 'discovering and destroying tunnels' on Twitter, stating that the neighboring country has acted to eliminate the threat against itself. According to Channel 2, the Israeli government has recently been in contact with other Arab countries; the president of Chad, where about 52% of the population is Muslim, visited Israel recently despite not having had official relations for 45 years. One day before this report from Israeli television, the Washington Post, for which Jamal Khashoggi was a columnist, claimed that Israel sold spy software to Saudi Arabia in exchange for Saudi support in confronting Iran and strengthened the Saudi cyber headquarters for espionage. David Ignatius wrote in the Washington Post that Israeli software was used to hack phones and track opponents of the Saudi government, including Jamal Khashoggi. The newspaper reported that the Israeli software was used in the Saudi cyber headquarters and implemented the objectives of this headquarters for tracking and spying on opponents. The Saudi cyber headquarters was established under Saud al-Qahtani, a former senior Saudi official who is one of the main suspects in the murder and dismemberment of Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. David Ignatius noted that he himself was invited to visit this modern headquarters twice in the spring of 2017 and 2018, which operates under the title 'Digital Center for Monitoring Extremism.' According to the Washington Post, Israeli software sold to the Saudis under the guise of 'counter-terrorism technology' also serves as tools for spying on opponents. The Israeli company NSO produced software known as Pegasus for hacking phones, which particularly enabled the Saudis to track their opponents in six Middle Eastern countries. A sister company of NSO, called Q Cyber, based in Luxembourg, executed the sale of the aforementioned software to the Saudis. Several former American officials who were sources for David Ignatius's report confirmed that Israel's agreement to sell this software was in exchange for Saudi support in confronting Iran. The Israeli government and the Ministry of Defense, which has been directly under Benjamin Netanyahu's oversight for the past three weeks, did not respond to the Washington Post's claims. However, NSO told the Israeli media Ynet that its activities are 'only conducted with security export licenses from the State of Israel and under the close guidance of all security agencies.' The company added that its technology assists government agencies and law enforcement in combating terrorism and crime, and has helped governments in detecting suicide operations, arresting leaders of drug and human trafficking gangs, and recovering abductees. Omar Abdulaziz Al-Zahrani, a close friend of Khashoggi, who is a Saudi-born resident of Canada, claimed last month that the Israeli company's software helped the Saudis track Jamal. Israeli media recently reported that a court in the country rejected Al-Zahrani's lawsuit against NSO, which had been filed by a Canadian law firm.