Police tried to hack Iris Elovitch’s phone, with judicial approval — TV report

Police tried to install spyware on the phone of Iris Elovitch, wife of former Bezeq controlling shareholder Shaul Elovitch, shortly before the investigations into the Bezeq case, part of the Netanyahu affair, became public five years ago, Channel 13 reports.

The effort was attempted with the requisite judicial authorization, the TV report claims.

The same station last week reported that police “apparently” targeted Shaul Elovitch’s phone as well, and that of state witness Shlomo Filber, also with judicial approval.

News outlets have provided no evidence of their repeated claims over the past few weeks that a wide range of individuals were hacked by police using spyware. Both Elovitches are currently defendants in the ongoing trial against former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Case 4000.

The officers involved in the hacking are adamant that their activities were legal, Channel 13 reports. Materials obtained were not transferred to the police team directly investigating the case, the network claims.

The same spyware was installed on the phones of people connected to “dozens of other cases” unrelated to the Netanyahu affair, the TV report says. This “proves,” according to the police, says Channel 13, that this was not part of any effort specifically targeting people connected to the Netanyahu cases.

Channel 13 also cites a police claim that no such spying was attempted against any of the three ministry director-generals named in this week’s Calcalist story: Keren Terner, Emi Palmor and Shai Babad.