The Minister of Internal Security, Amar Bar-Lev, announced today (Monday) that following the disturbing investigation by the Calcalist newspaper, according to which in recent years exceptional surveillance has been carried out against various civilians by the Israel Police, using NSO software used by various regimes around the world. It is against terrorism, a government commission of inquiry will be set up “to investigate in depth the violation of civil rights and their privacy in the years in question.”
Following the disclosure of the list followed by the police, the judges in the Netanyahu trial decided to cancel the planned hearing for tomorrow, in order for the prosecution to answer in court whether the spyware, Pegasus, was indeed used among the defendants, interrogees and witnesses in the Alps cases.
Earlier today, Opposition Speaker Benjamin Netanyahu’s Advocate, Adv. Boaz Ben Tzur, requested that the trial be held pending a comprehensive inquiry into the NSO case – the request was denied and the trial would take place as usual. Advocate Jacques Chen, the Elovich couple’s defense attorney, also demanded that the trial be suspended until a thorough investigation is conducted into the matter.
“This morning something dramatic, serious and serious happened,” said Adv. Chen. We need to give time and time to examine things, so that their meaning can be established, and we know that heavy meanings already exist. “It is impossible to hear the witnesses in order after we understood this morning how far the lesion has spread, what the depth of the infection and the filth is.”