Bennett meets France’s Macron in Glasgow, discusses spyware flap

In Glasgow for the COP26 climate summit, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met today with French President Emmanuel Macron. A statement issued by Bennett’s office after the meeting read, “The leaders held a good and warm private meeting. They discussed the global and regional challenges facing Israel and France, especially Iran's rapid progress in enriching uranium. Prime Minister Bennett noted that he attributes special importance to the large French community in Israel, which serves as a bridge between the two countries.”

Bennett’s statement did not mention the NSO affair, but Israeli diplomatic sources told reporters that alongside the Iranian threat, the spyware crisis was at the heart of the meeting between the leaders.

Publications last July exposed a database featuring thousands of phone numbers of politicians, decision-makers, journalists and activists worldwide, allegedly targeted by the Israeli company NSO’s Pegasus software. Among these numbers was also the private cell phone number of Macron, as well as of several French cabinet ministers and officials. Macron called Bennett personally at the end of July, to make sure the Israeli government were properly looking into the allegations.

The affair dampened Israeli efforts to reboot bilateral relations, after rather sour times during the Netanyahu era. Signaling to Paris that Jerusalem was taking the allegations seriously, Bennett dispatched Defense Minister Benny Gantz to meet with French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly and other French officials to share the preliminary findings of his ministry’s investigation.