NSO Quiz Finds Israeli Cops 'Exceeded Orders' on Wiretapping Warrants

The committee appointed to examine the police’s use of offensive spyware tools is expected to report that it did not find any cases in which the police “infected” citizen’s phones with malware without a court order, Justice Ministry officials said, Chen Maanit reported for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Photo Insert: Ministry of Finance, Israel

However, the final report is also expected to state that in a number of cases the police exceeded the restrictions of their warrants, such as extracting additional information that was not included in the warrant or by using the spyware after the court order had expired, the officials added.

The final report of the team that investigated the use of the hacking tools, headed by Deputy Attorney General Amit Merari, is expected to be released on Thursday, or at most a few days later, and will include recommendations for the police, Knesset, and legal system – with the goal of improving and fixing the use of such systems in a manner that will prevent violating the privacy of criminal suspects.

The investigative team wrote in its statement that it also conducted an in-depth technological examination concerning the telephone numbers of the former director general of the Transportation and Finance ministries, Keren Terner-Eyal, former director general of the Finance Ministry Shai Babad, and former director general of the Justice Ministry Emi Palmor.

Both the Pegasus system and other systems for wiretapping that the police began using recently were examined, and no evidence was found of the police conducting any wiretapping of the mobile phones of the three, the investigators said.

"We are asserting once more that the use of spyware by the police is illegal, whether a court order is issued or not," The Association for Civil Rights in Israel declared prior to the report's release.

"The original sin is the act of purchasing and using spyware that is capable of carrying out such a wide range of illegal actions. The attorney general must continue to forbid the use of spyware by the police."

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