03 Feb 2022; MEMO: Israel police hacked the phone of one of the central suspects in the corruption case filed against former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, local media reported yesterday.
Channel 13 said that the disclosure of the hacking had come as part of the "investigations carried out by the Israeli justice minister about the police's misuse of cyber security programmes built by the Israeli company, NSO Group.
The channel quoted sources as saying that a detected phone call was about "one of the files that led to the filing of an indictment against Netanyahu, including charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, which are being considered by the Israeli Central Court in Jerusalem."
The sources pointed out that the information obtained by the police from the espionage operation had included "extensive data such as photos, phone numbers, correspondence records, various applications and other information." It added that the espionage was carried out "without a court order."
Netanyahu is entangled in four political scandals: Case 1000 which involves allegations that the PM and his wife accepted illegal gifts from businessmen; Case 2000 which accuses Netanyahu of attempting to buy favourable newspaper coverage; Case 3000, also known as the "submarine scandal" would have seen Israel purchase naval vessels and submarines from a German firm with millions of shekels allegedly "skimmed" off the top of the deals for personal profit; and Case 4000, in which a close associate of Netanyahu is suspected of providing confidential information to Israel's largest telecoms company.
