New Investigation Uncovers Unprecedented Spyware Collaboration Between Morocco and Israel
According to the International Desk of Webangah News Agency, an extensive international investigation has brought to light unprecedented details of intelligence cooperation between Morocco and the Israeli regime. The inquiry specifically focuses on the sale of the “Pegasus” spyware, developed by the Israeli company NSO Group.
The report indicates that Morocco, with the assistance of at least four Israeli companies, established an integrated surveillance system. This system was reportedly utilized for espionage on French and Spanish ministers years before the signing of the normalization of relations agreements. The Pegasus spyware has been sold to various entities worldwide, with many reportedly using it to monitor journalists, politicians, and human rights activists. Pegasus grants its operators complete access to a targeted phone, allowing them to read all files and messages within secure applications, and remotely activate the camera and microphone without detection.
The investigation suggests that Morocco has been a client of NSO Group since at least 2017. Beyond the Pegasus software, Morocco has also acquired other surveillance systems from the Israeli regime. Notably, the Israeli newspaper “Haaretz” participated in this research, which found that Morocco has been employing the Circles system from the Israeli company Circles since 2017. This system exploits vulnerabilities in international communication protocols to track the location of any device globally.
The international research further emphasizes that negotiations for acquiring surveillance systems from the Israeli company Verint were underway a year prior to Morocco obtaining Pegasus. Internal documents from Verint dating back to 2016, obtained by Haaretz, identify Morocco under the codename “Magazin.” These documents detail negotiations for contracts worth $18 million for the purchase of the Skylock mobile phone tracking system, alongside other tracking and intelligence platforms, and discussions regarding the sale of an initial spyware program named EPI.
Furthermore, the investigation revealed Morocco’s use of tools from the Israeli company Celebros. These tools reportedly enable access to phones compromised by agents and the extraction of stored data. In 2019, Privacy International reported that Celebros offered Morocco services to screen asylum seekers at borders. An officer from the General Directorate of National Security Cybersecurity of Morocco informed the researchers that Morocco has also utilized Celebros tools for the espionage of human rights activists.
