India bought Pegasus from Israel in defense deal, claims NYT report
Also mention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel
NSO Group has built Pegasus
NYT report claims Pegasus
There has been a lot of controversy regarding the spying software Pegasus. Now shocking claims have been made in a new report on this. The report said that the Indian government had bought Pegasus apart from the missile system in 2017 in a huge deal from Israel. The deal was worth $2 billion.
The New York Times has released a report regarding this on Friday. The report also claimed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had also purchased and tested this spyware.
The report details how spyware has been used globally. It said that Pegasus was sold to Poland, Hungary and India besides other countries in the Israeli Defense Ministry deal license.
In this, referring to the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Israel in the year 2017, it has been told that both the countries had agreed on a 2 billion dollar arms and intelligence gear package deal. It also includes Pegasus and missile systems.
Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s historic visit to Israel in July 2017, the New York Times said that the visit happened when “India had made a policy” of “commitment to Palestine” and “Israel”. Relations with him were cold.”as the reason for the warm relationship
Was the reason for the warm relationship
The New York Times writes, “Modi’s visit, however, was particularly cordial, with PM Modi and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arriving at a beach in Israel. The relationship between them seemed warm. The countries had agreed to the sale of a package of sensitive weapons and espionage equipment worth about $2 billion. The main focus of this deal was Pegasus and a missile system.
Pegasus deal and link to Palestine
The report said that just a few months after this visit, the then Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu made a state visit to India and in June 2019, India voted in support of Israel in the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations to support the Palestinian Human Rights Organization. could not get observer status, which was the first time for Palestine.
Neither India nor Israel accepts the deal
Let us tell you that till now neither the Indian government has admitted that it has bought Pegasus software from Israel nor has the Israeli government admitted that it has sold this spying system to India.
Let us tell you that Pegasus is a very dangerous spy software. It has been made by the Israeli company NSO Group. According to the company’s website, it is sold only to governments. Its cost is billions of rupees.
IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnav gave the answer in Parliament
Let us inform that the Union IT Minister has categorically rejected the report of espionage from Pegasus. Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha on July 18, he had said that when it comes to surveillance, India has established protocols which are strong and have “withstanding the test of time”. On Monday, he categorically rejected the reports about spying of Indians through Pegasus software.
He said on 18 July 2021, “I want to highlight that even NSO (manufacturer of spyware) has said that the list of countries that use Pegasus is wrong. Many countries in the list are not even our customers. NSO also said that most of its clients are Western countries. It is clear that NSO has also categorically rejected the claims in the report.”
Dozens of petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court
Let us tell you that the political parties of India have accused the government of spying through Pegasus. Several petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court in this matter. After this, on 27 October, the Supreme Court has appointed an independent committee headed by retired Justice RV Raveendran along with two experts which is probing the matter.
