I have spent more than a decade investigating the Israeli arms and surveillance industries, and have always understood that the Israeli state is far more involved than it publicly admits.
The revolving door between the public and private sector is well-known, but how exactly did some of the biggest Israeli companies achieve such incredible access to governments around the world, from Saudi Arabia to Ethiopia?
Beyond Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spyware diplomacy - a highly effective way to make friends, by offering sophisticated tools to spy on perceived enemies, journalists, human rights workers and even friends - there were always gaps in our knowledge.
But a recent revelation provides a window into how it happened. In 2013, Shalev Hulio - one of the founders of NSO Group, which developed the phone spyware Pegasus - travelled to Panama on an Israeli diplomatic passport and stayed at the Israeli embassy.
The vital reporting by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and two other media outlets found that Hulio was central to NSO Group’s sale of Pegasus to Panama in 2012, and that he signed the contract with the Panamanian government.
