Thursday evening, the Israeli Occupation judiciary announced the opening of an investigation into the police's use of the "Pegasus" spyware program, after information in this regard was received in the local press.

In a letter sent to Police Chief Kobe Shabtai, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit demanded that all wiretapping and espionage operations carried out in 2020 and 2021 be obtained in order to "verify the allegations made in the media."

The Hebrew economic newspaper Calcalist reported Thursday that the Israeli Occupation police used the Pegasus program to spy on an Israeli Occupation resident it considers a potential threat, in order to collect items that can be used as leverage in any future investigations.

The newspaper, whose sources were not revealed, stated that the specialized police unit had used Pegasus to monitor an activist who was afraid that he would commit "violations related to public order" and considered him to be "a threat to democracy."

The Israeli Occupation police chief responded to what was published by the newspaper, stressing that "the police did not find any element to support this information."

"The Israeli police are fighting crime with all the legal means available to it," Shabtai said in a statement, noting that he had asked Mandelblit to "verify that all wiretapping operations were carried out in accordance with the law."

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Justice pledged to conduct an in-depth investigation into Calcalist's allegations that the Pegasus program was used to spy on Israeli Occupation citizens, including people who led protests against former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Since the disclosure last year of the use of the Pegasus spy program that penetrates smart phones, which is produced by the Israeli Occupation company "NSO", on media, journalists, politicians and opponents around the world, the controversy continues around it.

Once downloaded to a mobile phone, Pegasus allows spying on the phone user by accessing messages, data, photos on the phone and contacts, as well as enabling the microphone and camera to be activated remotely.

Israeli Occupation security forces have broad judicial approval to monitor inside the Israeli Occupation. 

Last summer, NSO found itself at the center of a global espionage scandal after an investigation published by 17 international media outlets revealed that the Pegasus program had allowed governments to spy on at least 180 journalists, 600 political figures, and 85 human rights activists.

Then there were reports of the use of the program for espionage in several countries.

The Israeli Occupation Defense Ministry, which must approve all exports of Israeli Occupation defense industry products, has opened an investigation into Pegasus sales abroad.