Former Likud minister Gideon Sa’ar’s phone hacked — report

Netanyahu’s ex-rival said to have discovered breach of device days before Likud primaries in February

By ToI Staff 7 April 2019, 11:03 pm

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Senior Likud party member Gideon Sa'ar is seen during a campaign stop at Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda market, on April 4, 2019. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

The cellphone of senior Likud party member Gideon Sa’ar was hacked, the Kan public broadcaster reported Sunday.

It was not clear when the breach took place and who was behind it. Kan said Sa’ar learned of the matter several days before the Likud primaries in February.

Sa’ar declined to comment on the report, which came just weeks after a number of other top Israeli political figures reportedly had their phones hacked, including Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz.

The Likud party has tried to use the hack of Gantz’s phone, which the former IDF chief was informed about last year by Israeli security officials, to show he is unfit to lead the country. Gantz has charged that the leak of the breach to the media was politically motivated.

Channel 12, which broke the Gantz story, also reported last month that the cellphone of former prime minister Ehud Barak was hacked months ago and its contents were apparently sold to Iran.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shakes hands with Likud candidate Gideon Sa’ar as he arrives for a Likud faction meeting at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem on March 11, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

A source with knowledge of the case told the channel’s “Uvda” investigative program last month that Iran was not responsible for the security breach, but appeared to have bought the information from foreign hackers.

Sa’ar earned the fifth spot on the Likud list in the ruling party’s primaries in February.

In the lead-up to the primaries Netanyahu launched a frontal assault on Sa’ar’s candidacy, accusing him in a video of plotting to replace him. The two have since made up — at least publicly — shaking hands in front of cameras at a party event shortly after the primaries.