Startup spyware nation

The ideological leanings of editors at dailies Yedioth Aharonoth and Israel Hayom may differ quite a bit, as may their views on regional politics, but when the opportunity to affirm Israel’s status as a leading startup nation arises, you can bet that the front pages of both media outlets will prominently feature almost identical reports on the hi-tech achievements stemming from the creative minds of the citizens of the Jewish state.

Interestingly enough, this seems to hold true even when the technological advance in question is malicious by nature, as is evidently the case in today’s reports on an “Israeli hack” that has given executives at tech giant Apple a major headache over the past several days.

It’s hard to miss the note of pride in Yedioth’s report on an Israeli digital company that apparently prompted Apple to boost security for its mobile operating system, after developing a highly sophisticated spyware package that enables complete control of iPhone devices. The daily makes sure to stress that the NSO Group — the company that developed the spyware package — was established by former members of the IDF’s elite 8200 intelligence unit. The firm, Yedioth writes, has defended itself by saying that it “does not operate the software for its clients, it just develops it.”

Israel Hayom, on its part, notes that the spyware package “is the most sophisticated” of its kind to have ever been discovered by the San Francisco-based Lookout smartphone security company, which alerted Apple to the vulnerabilities in its operating system. According to the daily’s report, the Israeli-developed software can track calls and contacts, collect passwords, read text messages and emails, record calls and trace the whereabouts of the user. The spyware package was apparently discovered due to a botched attempt to break into the iPhone of an Arab activist in the United Arab Emirates.

Meanwhile in Haaretz, reporter Amira Hass writes that the number of Palestinians severely wounded in clashes with IDF forces has skyrocketed in recent months, apparently, she says, due to the Israeli army’s new directives that allow soldiers to shoot live rounds at rock-throwers’ lower body parts. Hass describes teenagers and men in their early twenties who are dependent on crutches, and writes that some Palestinians are convinced the Shin Bet security service has made a deliberate effort “to cripple” stone-hurlers as a means of deterrence. Concrete evidence for the claims against the Israeli security establishment, however, is notably lacking from the report, which primarily centers around the experiences of Palestinians from West Bank cities and refugee camps who have gotten into altercations with the IDF. The Shin Bet, on its part, outright denied that any such deliberate effort against Palestinian youths exists.

Back in Yedioth, the daily presents a uniquely Israeli conundrum concerning construction work at the HaShalom railway station in Tel Aviv, as ultra-Orthodox politicians from the Shas and United Torah Judaism parties have threatened to leave the government if the building takes place this Sabbath. While representatives of Israel Railways and the police insist that delaying the construction work to a weekday will require the shuttering of the bustling Ayalon highway, which will cause a large portion of the country to effectively shut down and may even result in a risk to human life, ultra-Orthodox MKs have said that they cannot sit idly by as the sanctity of the Sabbath is desecrated in such an overt manner. As of press time, no compromise had been reached on the matter, and it was unclear whether the construction work would take place. (By Friday morning, however, Prime Minister Netanyahu had ruled that the work would go ahead as scheduled over Shabbat, because of the potential loss of life involved in delaying it to a weekday.)

Israel Hayom reports that the IDF has developed new uniforms for its soldiers which are wrinkle-proof and which contain a special pocket for a cell phone. The uniforms will be issued to soldiers in 2018 and will include an embroidered Israeli flag, as well as unique symbols for each different army unit. The uniforms will be designed from sweat-resistant fabric, which is good news for combat fighters who have up until now had to put up with their comrades’ scents after days of serious physical action and/or training.

Yedioth’s weekend feel-good story is about 10 former students at the Metro West Ra’anana high school who are destined to return to the education establishment as teachers. According to the paper, the teachers have set out to spread the message that going back to the high school as educators means that their experience as students was extremely positive, and that is no small deal. “Who better than us can understand what seniors in the school are going through?” says one of the teachers. The long-time staff members at the school are also on board with the move, as Yedioth shows by quoting one such educator, who says that “we are always happy to accept more new teachers who studied here, and this trend is definitely a blessed one.”