Retired Superintendent Uri Bar Lev, former commander of the Southern District of the police, spoke today (Monday) with Ben Caspit and Yinon Magal on 103FM and commented on Calcalist's exposure of the list of public figures whom the police allegedly monitored using the Pegasus rogue software.
""If this is true, it is an unbelievable scandal," he said. "There is a different kind of event here, it is no longer wiretapping. Technological capabilities have jumped many levels and today there are capabilities that extract what you have on your cell phone and are able not only to reproduce but to monitor everything that is happening around your life.".
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When asked whether this tool is needed, he replied: "Yes, just as every police officer has a gun and is supposed to use it under very specific conditions - when there is danger to himself and others, that doesn't mean he will shoot the entire neighborhood. The police need to have technological tools that, in very specific cases and under very close supervision, these tools are used. The Air Force also has very deadly bombs, but it doesn't necessarily use them.".
""The capabilities exist in the intelligence systems, in a situation of countering terrorism, and the definition should be at the title level - immediate and real danger to human life and prevention of harm to human life. That's where we need to start. I'm taking a very comprehensive and clear title and to that we can add subsections, with supervision having to be very tight, much tighter than for wiretapping.".
According to him, the problem is not the introduction of the systems but the use made of them. "It is very much not spot-on as I understand it, but really shooting in all directions. This is exactly the law of a policeman who takes out a gun and shoots at a protester, at a car burglar, and at someone accused of loitering. They also shot at those who are innocent of any crime. Someone did something here that was not a spot-on malfunction.".
He referred to Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai's call for the establishment of an external investigative committee: "If I analyze correctly, the one who introduced the use that is not appropriate for any democracy we know was Roni Alsheich. He came from an organization where everything is permitted, it is permitted to investigate and in order to prevent terrorist attacks, the goal is ostensibly very important, with a lot of arrogance. I saw his interview on 'Uvda' about an existing investigation, with a lot of arrogance with a big embrace from the media, he understood that he was allowed to do everything and if you ask me, it started there.".
Bar Lev claimed that Alsheich was primarily responsible - and added: "This tool is a deadly tool and it needs to be monitored inside and outside the police. I think this is not something done out of ignorance, the natural desire of every intelligence officer to know everything, but in a democracy it has very clear limitations.".
""Someone had to wake up, I'm glad they're putting this on the table today. The Commissioner is right, a very meticulous inspection system needs to be set up to see what happened and how these terrible loopholes are plugged, because what is described in the media is not a small loophole - these tools should only be used under very strict supervision and should be used in very extreme cases.".
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