Palestinians Attacked, Spyware NSO, Sebastia Invaded, Palestinians Arrested, Store Destroyed, Palestinians Injured, Al-Aqsa Mosque

November 12, 2021

By KhamakarPress News –

Israeli settlers brutally attack, beat Palestinians in Hebron, shoot sharp bullets

Extremist Israeli settlers attacked and fired live ammunition at Palestinians Wednesday evening in the village of Khallet al-Dabe’h, in the Masafer Yatta community, south of Hebron, injuring at least five.
According to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, a group of extremist Israeli settlers brutally attacked Palestinians last night with live ammunition and stones in the village of Khallet al-Dabe’h, injuring more than five; two by sharp bullets and the others were bruised from the violent beatings and stone throwing.
The settlers also smashed the windows of several Palestinian vehicles.

Israeli settlers injure five Palestinians near Hebron

Israeli settlers injured five Palestinians Wednesday evening in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank.
Rateb Jabour, the coordinator of the National and Popular Committees, stated that a group of settlers threw stones and live ammunition at many Palestinians in the area of Khallet al-Dabe’h in Masafer Yatta before attacking them.

Four Palestinians injured in settler attack south of Hebron

Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians with live fire on Wednesday evening in the village of Khallet al-Dabe’h, south of Hebron, injuring four, according to local and human rights sources.
The coordinator of the Anti-Wall and Settlement Popular Committees, Rateb Jabour, said Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians gathered in response to the construction of an Israeli colonial settlement at Khallet al-Dabe’h, one of Masafer Yatta. hamlets, leaving four injured.

Palestine Says Israeli Spyware NSO Found on Phones of Three Senior Officials

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that it found Pegasus spyware, developed by Israeli spyware company NSO Group, on the phones of three senior officials.
By accusing Israel of using military-grade Pegasus software to eavesdrop on them, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry announcement marks the first time Palestinian officials have accused NSO of spying on them, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
The statement also came less than two hours after the resignation of NSO chief executive Itzik Benbenisti, who had only been employed for two weeks.

PA sues Israel for ‘crimes’ of hacking Palestinians’ phones

The Palestinian Authority (PA) said yesterday it plans to prosecute the Israeli occupation for its “crime” of hacking into Palestinian workers’ phones.
In a statement, the PA’s State Department said the phones of some of its employees had been hacked by Israeli spyware Pegasus.
This came after an investigation conducted by rights groups Front Line Defenders, Citizen Lab and Amnesty International found that six Palestinians had their phones hacked by Israeli software.
According to the findings, three of the Palestinians worked for an NGO and three for the State Department.

Israeli Occupation Officers Invade Sebastia Archaeological Site, Conduct Provocative Tour

Officers of the Israeli occupation forces raided the Sebastia archaeological site in Nablus on Thursday morning, conducting a provocative tour for unknown reasons.
Local sources said Israeli officers raided the Sebastia archaeological site earlier today and, for unknown reasons, embarked on a provocative tour.

Ten Palestinians detained from the West Bank and Israel

Israeli soldiers detained eight Palestinian civilians from the occupied West Bank and two from within the 1948 occupied territories called Israel before dawn Thursday, local sources said.
Security sources told the Palestinian News and Information Agency (WAFA) that Israeli forces stormed and searched a young man’s home in the town of Meithalun, south of Jenin in the northern West Bank, before arresting him.

Israel razes auto parts store south of Hebron

According to local sources, Israeli occupation authorities today razed a Palestinian auto parts store in the al-Harayeq area, south of Hebron.
Ahmad Salahab, a resident of the area, said Israeli forces escorted a bulldozer into the area, where the heavy machinery knocked down his 600-square-meter auto parts store, ostensibly because it is close to the nearby advancing colonial settlement of Beit Hagai.

Settlers’ organization begins building metal structure overlooking Al-Aqsa Mosque

The Israeli-Jewish settler group Elad started building a metal structure overlooking the Al-Aqsa Mosque yesterday, Al-Resalah newspaper reported.
Local sources said the new structure is very close to the southern wall of the Old City in an area occupied by Elad 15 years ago and referred to by settler organizations as the City of David.
The structure, the sources said, is adjacent to land owned by the Palestinian Somreen family, located in the Silwan neighborhood of Wadi Al-Hilwa.
Elad, Al-Resalah said, was founded in 1986 and has been used as the non-governmental face of the settlement projects of the Israeli occupation.

(Sources: Days of Palestine, Quds News Network, IMEMC, MEMO)

Henny A.J. Kreeft
Independent Citizen Journalism

© Khamakar News Agency / 11.11.2021

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Nothing Normal About Normalization

October 5, 2021

Bahraini demonstrators protest against normalization with the Zionist entity in Bahraini capital, Manama last week.

Ragheb Malli*

Israeli NSO’s Pegasus spyware hits headlines yet again, however this time, used by Bahrain to spy on human rights activists. According to the Canadian Citizen Lab Institute, the victims included 9 human rights activists from 3 different organizations; 2 of which have voluntarily exiled in England. Other than the more blatant issue of normalization with ‘Israel’, the joint endeavor in capturing human rights activists sets a prime example of the brutality and oppression that was not needed in the already repressive state in which human rights activists live in Bahrain.

The three movements targeted were Al-Wefaq, the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) and Waad, some of which are often labelled as ‘terrorist organizations’. The attacks occurred between June 2020 and February 2021. The Canadian Citizen’s Lab revealed that the Israeli NSO’s Pegasus Spyware has developed a ‘no-click’ hacking system which is revolutionary, since in the typical espionage circumstances, a link is sent to the victim’s phone, under the guise of a genuine link, in this case – a DHL message to the victims’ iPhones. Contrary to iPhone’s claim that their security is solid, the Pegasus spyware were seemingly able to bypass their strongest security feature ‘BlastDoor’.

Israeli NSO claims no responsibility, as expected, demanding the release of evidence the Canadian Citizen Lab claim to hold – as it has done previously at every accusation stop, including the 2019 WhatsApp lawsuit against them that is still presently ongoing.

It must be said that amidst all these so-called new headlines, there really is nothing new about it at all. Bahrain has been investing in spyware and espionage techniques since 2010; and although normalization with Israel only occurred last year, truth dictates that relations between the two preceded, as NSO cyber programs were purchased by Bahrain since 2017.

As normalization with ‘Israel’ spreads in the Middle East, control of the rebelling population has become even more of a priority. Pegasus, ‘the most powerful piece of spyware ever developed,’ as the Guardian described it, is crucial in controlling and repressing any powerful uprisings and rebellion; which is why it expectedly will grow and intensify as time goes by. Nevertheless, although Pegasus is evolving rapidly, it being Israeli is far more cause for concern. A concern that, unfortunately has begun to infiltrate the Middle East officially for all to see and being labelled as normal helping aid. It is not normal. It will never be normal.

*Ragheb Malli is a researcher for the Gulf Institute of Democracy and Human Rights and also a London-based social media activist for human rights.

Al-Manar.com.lb is not responsible for the content of this article. All opinions expressed are solely those of the author.

Source: Al-Manar English Website

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The ‘Pegasus’ Saga: All iPhone Devises Were Exploited by Israeli Spy Tech Firm, Report Indicates

September 13, 2021

Israeli malware Pegasus has been used to spy on journalists, activists. (Photo: via Wikimedia Commons)

The digital rights group CitizenLab has discovered a vulnerability that allowed Israeli spyware company NSO Group to implant its Pegasus malware onto virtually every iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch device.

CitizenLab revealed the vulnerability on Monday, a week after discovering it by analyzing the phone of a Saudi activist that had been infected with the malware. The discovery was announced to the public shortly after Apple rolled out an update to patch the vulnerability.

The vulnerability allowed the NSO Group’s clients to send malicious files disguised as .gif files to a target’s phone, which would then exploit “an integer overflow vulnerability in Apple’s image rendering library” and leave the phone open to the installation of NSO Group’s now-infamous ‘Pegasus’ malware.

The exploit is what’s known as a ‘zero-click’ vulnerability, meaning that the target user would not have to click a suspicious link or file to allow the malware onto their device.

While most Apple devices were vulnerable, according to the researchers, not all of those afflicted by the spyware were breached in this way. Instead, NSO Group sold the use of its malware to clients around the world, who used the tool to spy on the phones of rival politicians, journalists, activists, and business leaders.

News of the malware’s existence was first broken earlier this summer by Amnesty International and Forbidden Stories, a French investigative outlet, and reported by a collection of partner news outlets. Among those accused of using the Israeli malware are the governments of Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, India, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

A leaked list suggested that as many as 52,000 names were marked as possible targets for surveillance by NSO Group’s customers, and roughly a tenth of these targets were reportedly surveilled. Pegasus granted users access to calls, messages, photos and files, and allowed them to secretly turn on the target phones’ cameras and microphones.

CitizenLab pinned the latest exploit on NSO Group after discovering a so-called ‘digital artifact’ left behind that matched calling cards left by the company’s other exploits, and similarly-named processes in its code.

The NSO Group has not commented on CitizenLab’s latest research, which comes just one day before Apple’s anticipated unveiling of the iPhone 13 ahead of its launch later this month.

(RT.com, PC, Social Media)

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NSO Group’s Spyware Used on Bahraini Activists – Report

 August 25, 2021

By Staff, Agencies

In the course of violating human rights in the Bahraini kingdom, nine activists from Bahrain had their iPhones hacked by advanced spyware made by the ‘Israeli’ company NSO Group, the world’s most notorious hacker-for-hire firm, a cybersecurity watchdog reported on Tuesday.

Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto said NSO Group’s Pegasus malware successfully hacked the phones between June 2020 and February 2021. Those reportedly hacked included members of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and two political dissidents living in exile. At least one of the activists lived in London when the hacking occurred, Citizen Lab said.

Citizen Lab said it has “high confidence” that at least four of the activists were hacked by the Bahraini government, which has a history of using commercially available spyware.

One of the activists targeted is Moosa Mohammed, who said he was previously a victim of spyware, in 2012.

“When I fled torture and persecution in Bahrain, I thought I would find safety in London but have continued to face surveillance and physical attacks by Gulf regimes,” he said.

The government of Bahrain, a tiny island kingdom off the coast of Saudi Arabia that’s home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, has a long history of suppressing dissent. Bahrain’s National Communication Centre dismissed Citizen Lab’s findings as “misguided” and said in a statement the country is committed to safeguarding individual rights and freedoms.

NSO Group said in a statement that it had not yet seen the report, but questioned Citizen Lab’s methods and motives. “If NSO receives reliable information related to the misuse of the system, the company will vigorously investigate the claims and act accordingly,” the company said.

Citizen Lab found that in some instances the malware infected targeted iPhones without the users taking any action — what’s known as a zero-click vulnerability.

Bill Marczak of Citizen Lab said the exploits worked against a recent versions of the iPhone’s operating system, adding that there’s “no indication that the bugs exploited have been fixed.”

Ivan Krstic, head of Apple Security Engineering and Architecture, said such attacks are costly and often have a short shelf life. “They are not a threat to the overwhelming majority of our users,” he said in a statement, adding that Apple constantly adds new protections for its devices and data.

The new report is the latest unwelcome news for NSO Group. The firm was the focus of recent reports by a media consortium that found the company’s spyware tool Pegasus was used in several instances of successful or attempted phone hacks of business executives, human rights activists and others around the world.

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Pegasus is Just the Tip of the Israeli Cyber Spying Iceberg, with Whitney Webb

July 23rd, 2021

By Mnar Adley

Source

Investigative journalist Whitney Webb joins MIntCast to discuss Pegasus, Toka, and the global Israeli cyberspying network.

Edward Snowden has called it “the story of the year.” An Israeli spying company has been caught selling software to authoritarian regimes that have used it to surveil more than 50,000 people worldwide.

That company is NSO, founded in 2010 by former members of Unit 8200, the Israeli military’s notorious intelligence squad. Their product is called Pegasus, and it was sold to military, law enforcement, and intelligence agencies in 40 countries, among them some of the world’s worst human rights abusing governments.

On this “MintCast,” investigative journalist Whitney Webb joins Mnar Adley today to discuss Pegasus, Toka, and the global Israeli cyberspying network. Whitney Webb is a writer and researcher for the outlets Unlimited Hangout and The Last American Vagabond. She principally covers intelligence, technology, surveillance, and civil liberties. Between 2017 and 2020, she was also a senior investigative reporter for MintPress. Her latest article, “Meet Toka, the Most Dangerous Israeli Spyware Firm You’ve Never Heard Of,” was published by MintPress earlier this week.

Pegasus is able to attack the cellphones of targeted individuals without them realizing it, monitoring and recording their calls, texts and accessing other information stored on their devices. Dozens of human rights activists, nearly 200 journalists, several Arab royals, and more than 600 politicians are known to have had their communications spied on and compromised. Among those include French President Emmanuel Macron, Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan and president of Iraq, Barham Salih.

Close associates of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi were also attacked and compromised just before his murder by Saudi operatives in 2018, strongly indicating that the information gleaned through Pegasus was crucial in this endeavor. NSO vehemently denied that their product was used in his assassination. Yet it also put out a statement insisting that it had no access to what its clients did with the software — two seemingly contradictory assertions.

The Pegasus story has made major waves in India, too, where it was revealed Prime Minister Narendra Modi had used it to spy on his political opponents in the run-up to the 2019 elections. The Indian Congress Party has accused the prime minister of committing treason. Also disclosed was that the government hacked the phone of a woman who accused the Chief Justice of India of raping her, a revelation undermining the entire justice system and the concept of a fair trial.

Yet a new MintPress News investigation asserts that Pegasus is merely the tip of the Israeli cyber spying iceberg and that another piece of software, Toka, is far more dangerous and outrageous. Toka markets itself as “a one-stop hacking shop for governments that require extra capability to fight terrorists and other threats to national security in the digital domain.” The company’s software is designed to infiltrate any device connected to the internet, not just smartphones.

Toka is a product of the Israeli national security state, having been co-founded by former prime minister, Ehud Barak, and was also designed by members of Unit 8200, leading Webb to suggest that it is a front for the Israeli government.

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