Final report: Police didn’t tap phones without warrants, but some misuse occurred

A final report on police’s use of spyware to tap into citizens’ phones has found no evidence of cops using the tool without judicial warrants.

A series of reports in the Calcalist newspaper earlier this year claimed such acts were widespread, particularly pointing a finger at NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware. The reports caused public outrage and the formation of an inquiry committee led by Deputy Attorney General Amit Marari.

However, the panel says it found no evidence to support the claims. It did find various issues with police’s use of such spyware, including police systems automatically pulling information from phones that was not covered by warrants, though this information was not used.

“No indication was found that Israel Police penetrated phones without a court warrant allowing it to do so,” the commission says in a statement. “No indication was found that Israel Police penetrated the phones of individuals whose names were publicized in the media.”