Trump Lifted Biden Sanction on Israeli Software, Pegasus

Trump lifted Biden sanctions on Pegasus software which should shake Americans to the core. pic.twitter.com/ZqV3CbeM7L

— Use Yandex Search Engine for Anti Zionist searches (@Use_Yandex) March 15, 2025

Did you know that the camera and microphone you're using right now can be seen and heard by someone remotely if your phone is infected with the spyware called Pegasus?  In fact, the users can have access to your camera, your microphone, photos, videos, all your DMs, your social media, your texts, emails.  They can even send and receive messages.  They can have your exact location.  They can even have your health data.  And these aren't hackers or shadowy figures from the dark web. Pegasus is sold to governments, governments like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Mexico activists and journalists we actually interviewed victims of Pegasus in Mexico by an Israeli spyware firm called NSO Group.  And there have been dozens of reported cases of it being used against human rights activists and journalists.  We actually interviewed victims of Pegasus in Mexico, and associates of Jamal Kvvshoggi in London for an episode of Fault Lines, called "Targeted by a Text."  Our reporting led us to a New Jersey mansion where Omri Lavie lived, the owner of NSO.  I knocked on his door to ask him questions about the business of sneaking into people's private lives.

Omri, can we ask you a few questions?  I'm a journalist with Al Jazeera, Josh Rushing, hosting a show called, Fault Lines.  Can we ask you just a few questions?  

No.

I want to get a statement from you.

Excuse me.  This is private property, so I would ask you to kindly leave.  Go away.

Just one statement, like why do you continue to sell to governments that use Pegasus to target human rights activists and journalists?

Go away, or I'll call the police.

He said go away, or I'll call the police.

Because of all the reporting about governments abusing Pegasus, the US government blacklisted the company in 2021.  You know the old saying about "never let a serious crisis go to waste"?  NSO certainly does.  They're now spending millions of dollars to lobby the US government to try to get it off the blacklist.  They've actually hired one of the most prestigious law firms in the world, Paul Hastings.  That's his building.  You can see it right from my desk.  A partner from Paul Hastings on November 7th, 2023, exactly one month after the Hamas attack on Israel, sent a written letter requesting to urgently meet with the Secretary of State.  How do I know?  Here's the email. Here are the letters.  And these are courtesy of our good friends and journalists over at The Intercept.  In the letter the partner Timothy Dickinson uses the Specter of alleged Rising anti-Semitism as a reason for the US government to have this incredibly invasive spyware. Hey, look, for a lot more about Pegasus, NSO, check out the Emmy-nominated Fault Lines episode, "Targeted by a Text" on YouTube.  This is The Brief, and I am Josh Rushing.