Israelis push U.S. to remove NSO from blacklist

Israel has asked the US administration several times in recent months to remove the offensive cyber company NSO, developers of the PEGASUS spyware software from the US Department of Commerce's blacklist, according to Walla!, two senior Israeli officials and a senior American official.

The two senior Israeli officials and a senior US official said the Biden administration was considering the Israeli request. However, another senior government official denied the allegations, saying that when Israel raised the request, it was made clear to it that the White House would not intervene.

If the Biden administration decides to remove NSO from this blacklist it will be a dramatic change in policy that is likely to draw harsh criticism from within the Democratic Party, Congress and the cyber defense community in the United States.

"We told the Americans that they could not tear down NSO, even if the company had some problematic customers it does not mean that the company's products and capabilities are no longer needed," a senior Israeli official told Walla.

The company's lawyers have appealed the decision to put NSO on the blacklist and asked for a hearing, but so far apart from an exchange of letters with the US Department of Commerce, there has been no progress.

In recent years, NSO has become a strategic asset for the Israeli defense community, especially for the Mossad. NSO was, among other things, used to promote secret ties with countries with which Israel has no diplomatic relations and to strengthen intelligence ties with countries with which Israel does have diplomatic relations.

At the end of last year, after the Biden administration decided to impose sanctions on NSO, an internal discussion took place in the Israeli government regarding the degree of assistance to be provided to the company and whether Israel should officially contact the US administration on the issue.

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NSO heads then sent a letter to the prime minister, foreign minister and defense minister asking for their intervention and warning of the consequences of the company's future sanctions.

Initially, a decision was made that Israel would act proactively with the United States to change the decision, but at a later stage the policy changed and Israel began to put pressure on the Biden administration.

NSO blacklisting

In November 2021, the United States Department of Commerce added NSO and another Israeli offensive cyber company, Candiro, to the blacklist of companies operating in a manner contrary to the interests of national security and foreign policy.

This was the first time that the United States government imposed sanctions on Israeli cyber companies that receive an export license from the Israeli Defense Ministry.

The US Department of Commerce has determined that NSO provided spyware to governments that used it against journalists, human rights activists and diplomats at US embassies around the world.

As part of the sanctions, any American company that wishes to enter into a transaction with NSO must obtain a license from the US Department of Commerce.

In July 2021 a series of investigations were published in international media that a number of countries such as Hungary, India, Morocco, Mexico and Saudi Arabia used NSO's Pegasus software to spy on opposition activists and journalists.