Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz met July 28 in Paris with his French counterpart Florence Parly. Israel’s Defense Ministry noted that the date for the Paris visit was set already a month ago, to discuss the Iranian file, Lebanon and other regional strategic issues. Still, with the NSO affair revealed last week, Gantz’s meeting with Parly focused on that.

On July 18, the Paris-based Forbidden Stories news site reported that NSO's spyware Pegasus was used in attempted and successful hacks and tracking of dozens of cellphones belonging to journalists, human rights activists and politicians in different countries. NSO has largely denied the claims.

Reacting to this initial publication on the Forbidden Stories, the Defense Ministry had noted that if it finds that NSO Group had violated the terms of its export licenses, it will take appropriate action. The ministry stated that Israel permits companies to export cybersecurity products to “government figures only for legal purposes and to prevent and investigate crimes and to combat terrorism. And this is dependent upon commitments regarding the end use/user from the purchasing country, which must abide by these conditions.”

French Le Monde and The Washington Post revealed later that the phone of President Emmanuel Macron appeared on a list featuring some 50,000 numbers allegedly tracked through the Pegasus Project. Reports claimed that Morocco was the one to target Macron; allegations rebuffed immediately by Rabat.