Israel and France held secret talks in Paris apparently in an attempt to defuse a crisis between the two countries over the alleged hacking of top French officials’ phones with controversial Pegasus spyware.
The report by news website Axios said Friday that Israeli national security adviser, Eyal Hulata, made a visit to Paris several days ago, where he met with his counterparts at the Elysee Palace to put an end to a row in which Israeli-based firm NSO Group was accused of targeting the phones of French President Emmanuel Macron and other high-ranking officials through Pegasus spyware, which is developed by the cyberarms company. The visit came after Paris froze diplomatic, security and intelligence cooperation with Tel Aviv and was focusing on preventing further attacks on French authorities by Israel.
According to the report, the head of Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) Hulata met Macron’s national security adviser, Emmanuel Bonne, and briefed him on the current Israeli investigation into Pegasus. Hulata allegedly presented Bonne with a plan on how to end the crisis, including a proposal to ban the hacking of French cell phone numbers in any future spyware deal between an Israeli firm and a third country. Israel implemented a similar ban on NSO Group for carrying out cyberattacks on phone numbers in the United States and the United Kingdom.
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