EU Parliament’s Pegasus committee fires against NSO Group

EU Parliament’s Pegasus committee fires against NSO Group

The inquiry committee to investigate the use of the Pegasus spyware questioned a representative of the Israeli company behind the technology, the NSO Group, with questions but still many remain unanswered.


The European Parliament set up the committee to look into the purchase and deployment of the controversial technology.


On Tuesday (21 June), the committee scrutinised the NSO Group by questioning Chaim Gelfand, the tech firm’s General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer. 


The MEP and rapporteur Sophie in ‘t Veld said the way Gelfand responded to or declined to answer several questions was “an insult to our intelligence” and that there was a “complete disconnect between reality and what you are saying”.


“I would like to understand which cases of terrorism and serious crime were at stake when you sold Pegasus, for example, to the Hungarian and Polish governments,” Sophie in ‘t Veld said.


According to Gelfand, through the use of Pegasus, state authorities thwart numerous terrorist attacks, and it has been instrumental in apprehending paedophiles and other serious criminals. 


While the tangible impact of the technology is difficult to measure, Gelfand estimated that “probably many thousands of lives have been saved”. 


However, as has been revealed by a consortium of media outlets last year, the spyware has been used to hack the phones of critics, journalists and politicians, thus raising concerns about the mechanisms to control who can get hold of such technology. 


NSO software was used to spy on prominent European leaders such as Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and French President Emmanuel Macron, as well as political groups in Poland, Hungary and Spain. 




Control mechanism


Gelfand emphasised that only governments can be the end-users of the Pegasus spyware, and the ..

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