Spain closes Pegasus probe due to Israeli non-cooperation

Spain's High Court has closed its investigation into the use of NSO Group's Pegasus spyware to target the mobile devices of top Spanish officials, including Prime Minister Pedro Snchez and Defense Minister Margarita Robles, citing a repeated lack of cooperation from Israel, according to The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.

Judge Jos Luis Calama stated that Israel's failure to respond to five cooperation requests breached "the principle of good faith that should govern relations between states" and violated international obligations, effectively stalling the probe launched in May 2022. The court found evidence that the zero-click spyware attacks, which infected the prime minister's phone five times, "jeopardized the security of the Spanish State."

The case was briefly reopened in April 2024 after French authorities shared information on similar Pegasus hacks, but Israel's continued silence forced its termination. The NSO Group, whose founders have deep ties to Israeli military intelligence, is widely perceived to operate under government cover, with Israel regulating spyware exports. In a separate but related case, a Barcelona court ordered the indictment of three former NSO executives in March for allegedly targeting at least 63 Catalan civil society members.