The Tel Aviv District Court dismissed July 12 Amnesty International’s petition to revoke the export license of Israeli spyware firm NSO Group, in an attempt to prevent the company from selling abroad its surveillance technologies. The human rights group had claimed in its petition that governments across the globe have used NSO cellphone hacking software Pegasus to spy on journalists and activists, and in particular spy on a member of Amnesty International.
The court ruled in response that Amnesty International did not provide sufficient evidence to back up its claim of an attempted espionage by hacking the phone of one of its members, nor that such an attempt had been carried out by NSO. The judge also said that the Defense Ministry has put in place enough restrictions and limitations on its export licensing process to reasonably protect human rights.
