Report: PM associate hired intel firm responsible for probing Gantz phone hack

A private intelligence firm was hired several weeks ago by an associate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to gather embarrassing or damaging information on the premier’s main rival in next week’s elections, Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz, according to a report.

The report by business news website The Marker, which does not cite a source, says the unidentified person close to Netanyahu brokered a deal estimated at hundreds of thousands of shekels (tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of US dollars) between a body linked to Likud and the CGI Group intelligence company. It adds that it is unknown whether the payment has been made.

CGI Group — co-owned by Yaakov Perry, a former MK for Yesh Atid, one of the factions that make up Blue and White — is the firm hired last year by Blue and White to investigate the suspected Iranian hack into Gantz’s phone.

The investigation conclusion that a hack could indeed have taken place was leaked to the media, leading to mutual accusations between CGI and Blue and White and to both cutting their ties.

According to the report, the Likud-linked body asked CGI for documents related to Blue and White’s ties with the PR company owned by Gantz’s campaign manager Ronen Tzur, following claims that a certain person — unidentified in the report — was employed in the past by the firm, a fact that could have helped the Likud campaign.

It isn’t known if that goal has been achieved.

Netanyahu’s spokesperson Ofer Golan responds that the report is “a complete lie.” CGI Group and its owners refuse to comment.