Israel Restricts Cyberweapons Export List By Two-thirds, From 102 To 37 Countries

The Israeli government has restricted the list of countries to which local security firms are allowed to sell surveillance and offensive hacking tools by almost two-thirds, cutting the official cyber export list from 102 to 37 entries. From a report: The new list, obtained by Israeli business newspaper Calcalist earlier today, only includes countries with proven democracies, such as those from Europe and the Five Eyes coalition: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the UK, and the US.

The list noticeably removes autocratic regimes, to which Israeli companies have often supplied surveillance tools. Spyware developed by Israeli companies like Candiru and the NSO Group has been linked in recent years to human rights abuses in tens of countries, with the tools being used by the local governments to spy on reporters, activists, dissidents, and political rivals.

Free Occupied Palestine.

[ikhider]

Yet Israel continues to illegally seize Palestinian land and imprison/execute men, women and children at will. https://www.amnesty.org/en/loc... [amnesty.org] No justice, no peace.

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[aerogems]

There's a big difference between expressing a negative opinion of Israeli government policies and being anti-Israel, which is of course a thinly veiled way of calling someone an anti-Semite. Stop projecting your own insecurities and prejudices onto others.

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[mateo650]

This article has nothing to do with what you are talking about, the rule for you is if it is anti Israel, you will support it, plain and simple. I'd have to hear more from you to see if you are an antisemite, but your callous disregard of the term lets me form some initial opinion. This website is about tech. Stick to it, Stop with the anti Israel agitation.

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[ikhider]

Guess what, Palestinians are Semites too as are all the peoples in the surrounding regions. You cannot occupy a word for your own selfish uses. A nation founded on evil will crumble. Israel is on borrowed land and time.

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[ikhider]

“Semite n. member of an ancient group of people including the Hebrews, Arabs, Phoenicians, Assyrians, etc. 1847, probably a back formation from Semetic, perhaps formed by influence of French Semite (1845 from late Latin Sem Shem, one of the three sons of Noah, regarded as the ancestor of Semites, from Greek, Sem, from Hebrew Shem” (Barnhart, Robert K.. The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology. The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988. Print) “Semetic: noun any group of Afro Asiatic languages including

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[ikhider]

Forget 100+ years of scholarship, if you put up a website, you can justify pushing out an indigenous population from their land, seizing their property, shoving a segment into ghettos for forced labor and target practice and imprison their children. Anytime someone speaks out against your injustice you scream "racist!". But guess what? The Palestinians are actually far more Jewish, when you look at their DNA, then the settlers. So you are actually the Jew hater, bigot.

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[mateo650]

Please read the IHRA definition of antisemitism. Do not be obtuse and offensive toward Jewish people. You reject the very term of anti Jewish hatred.

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[ikhider]

Israel and Judaism are not the same thing.

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[aerogems]

Did you hit your head, or are you drunk or something? Serious question.

A person makes a comment that is critical of a specific Israeli government policy. You then make an idiotic comment that the comment is somehow anti-Israel. I then point out there's a difference between Israeli government policies and the country/people who live there. Then we have you making a bunch of posts both as an AC and under your actual account, which brings us to now.

Was the initial comment off-topic for the story? Sure, but tha

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[ikhider]

South Africa during apartheid had people similar to you, not to mention Israel, who said, "Business is business, don't get into politics" (Israel had no problems doing business with apartheid-era South Africa, among other regimes) while human rights violations went on. Same with people who dealt with IBM and Bayer during the late 30's. "Business is business, forget the human cost". Maybe you hit YOUR head and have amnesia, but human suffering is directly tied to Israel and their national/foreign policies. U

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[vladoshi]

The Muslims think they are the true Jews (Chosen Ones).If they are right, do they get Israel instead?

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[gtall]

Yup, Modi is a gift to Pakistan. The sooner the Indians get rid of that zealot, the better off they'll be.

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[arglebargle_xiv]

Everyone made the cut, since the headline has been phrased wrong, it should have read:

Israel Requires 65 of 102 Countries to Buy Cyberweapons Through Middlemen.

This is just a PR response to the NSO problems, they'll still be available to anyone who wants them and then when all this has blown over it's back to business as usual, same as on previous occasions [reuters.com].

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[ikhider]

Except in the case, the power is 'Israel' who happens to be the nuclear armed oppressor.

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[Daina.0]

This has been said many times, and it seems to still be true--If the Palestinians were to lay down their weapons there would be peace. If Israel were to lay down their weapons there would be genocide. What does that tell you about both sides?

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[_merlin]

If the Palestinians laid down their weapons, Israel would continue the expansion of illegal settlements, further displacing them.

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[drinkypoo]

While I agree, and don't suggest that it makes sense for the Palestinians to give up without a fight, Israel will also do that even if they don't lay down their weapons. This suggests that some other solution has to be found to this problem than weapons, even if giving them up makes no sense.

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[Retired ICS]

There is a solution -- Kill em All and Let God sort it out. God (she is a black transvestite) loves to sort.

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[ikhider]

Yes, we have wars over people who hold your views and are then dragged into the Hague to answer for it. Though you are likely an American, who, under Bush (Junior) have the policy that Americans do not have to answer to war crimes in the Hague. Since America is a major perp in directly committing war crimes or using states like Israel as proxies when they do not want to get their hands directly dirty, it seems the Hague is more needed than ever. I wish I wrote down the name of the high ranking West Point in

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[JabrTheHut]

The Palestinians did lay down their weapons. The West Bank is the quietest it has been for years, with almost no violence instigated by Palestinians. So far this century, Israel has called Palestinians refusing to buy Israeli goods "Economic Terrorism," BDS as "a new type of terrorism" and non-violent peace marches as simply "terrorism." The problem isn't Palestinian violence, it's Israeli violence.

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[Tablizer]

Israel is not an occupier!

Yes they are, dammit! [reddit.com]

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[Anonymous Coward]

Israel has nothing to do with Judaism, it is a Euro-Sparta state..

This is the classic folly of a militant-left Noam Chomsky apostle. Yes, we get it, you are antisemetic, but because you don't want to be associated with the right, you have to invent moral platitudes to justify your hate.

Israel is a major reason behind the radicalization of surrounding states.

Yet another classic myopic viewpoint of the militant-left. Israel is the reason radicalization hasn't grown more extreme. The root cause was the United State's war with the Soviet Union, but you seem to pick and choose the history that serves your narrative.

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[ikhider]

No, Israel is anti-Semetic. It is a Euro-colony imposed onto the indigenous population. The Europeans can go to Europe and leave the native land to the natives.

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[ikhider]

If you want to talk about Jewish land, the Palestinians have far more "Jewish" DNA than settlers. So if your metric is "land for Jews and Jews only" then Israelis must leave immediately. Just like a Jewish family members who turn atheist are still called Jews, so are the ones who converted to Islam. By any metric you want, the Palestinians have far more right to that land than the Euro settlers. But if you want to get into the caste system that is Israel, we can discuss what happens if you have pigmentation

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[ikhider]

So one cannot be against what happened in the Warsaw ghettos unless s/he has been there? Warsaw ghetto, as in the very same thing the Israelis are doing to Palestinians.

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[Tom]

Israel is a major reason behind the radicalization of surrounding states.

The main source of radical Islam is Saudia Arabia, which is not a neighbour. The main country ruled by radical Islamists is Afghanistan (again, 2nd round), quite a bit distant. There's also enough shit going down in places like Pakistan or Indonesia to make the claim questionable.

Israel's actions certainly don't help, that's for sure. But it seems quite clear that radicalization happens without them just as well.

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[ikhider]

Guess who founded Hamas? That's right, Israel.

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[Sun]

Israel did not found Hamas.

The source of this particular lie is probably that Israel did give financial aid to it at some point. Yizhak Rabin got it into his head that they will be a moderating influence against the PA, which shows a complete lack of understanding and very bad judgement. It's still not the same thing, however.

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[ikhider]

You may want to look that up again. While you are at it, pick up ''Abu Nidal: A Gun For Hire' by Patrick Seale. It seems the Israelis have a standard playbook of infiltrating groups and radicalizing them so as to justify their eye-for-an-eyelash policies. Very standard stuff for Israel.

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[Sun]

You may want to look that up again.

I did. Same results. If you want to dispute that, please do cite your sources. Since you're claiming something did happen and I'm claiming it didn't, the burden of proof is on you anyways.

While you are at it, pick up ''Abu Nidal: A Gun For Hire' by Patrick Seale. It seems the Israelis have a standard playbook of infiltrating groups and radicalizing them so as to justify their eye-for-an-eyelash policies. Very standard stuff for Israel.

So many problems with that statement I'm not even sure where to start. I think it's best if we settle the first point about Hamas before we bring in more contested claims into the argument.

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[ikhider]

Pick up Chomsky's 'Fateful Triangle'. Chomsky is meticulous. I also gave you Patrick Seale who wrote for The Economist. The PLO has a long history of trying to meet Israel half way but Israel never wanted peace and ensured Arab doves were executed. The play is to make sure only the most radical side is left alive to say, 'see, we can't talk to them' and then justify their ongoing crimes against humanity. They need a 'pretext', like chemical weapons in Iraq that don't exist. Standard, standard stuff. You kno

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[ikhider]

WMD's rather, Iraq had chemical weapons (with help from the West) and used them against Iran, not Israel. Israel got the SCUDs. But the pretext the US had was that Iraq held WMD's, which was never proven.

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[ikhider]

"...Defence Minister in Yitzhak Shamir's coalition government, was questioned by members of the Knesset about his supposed support of Hamas by funding the Islamic Compound and its activities. Rabin's short answer was that it was a tactic 'to undermine the influence of the PLO'..." Chehab, Zaki. Inside Hamas: The Untold Story of the Militant Islamic Movement. Nation Books, 2007. Standard Israeli playbook. Despite the problems you think you may have with my statements, I am not wrong.

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[ikhider]

Page 20.

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[ikhider]

Oh, you do know that "moderating" and to "undermine" are separate things, right? Israel knew exactly what they were doing when they started Hamas and Chomsky and Seale outlined the pattern of Israel push to radicalize the opposition. "Moderates" were the last thing Israel wanted.

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[Tablizer]

They get to swipe land if they "do nice things" with it? WTF argument is that?

Under that logic, let Canada have Texas.

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[haruchai]

They get to swipe land if they "do nice things" with it? WTF argument is that?

Under that logic, let Canada have Texas.

It was that logic that defended the original immigrant settlers "swiping" Tejas from Mexico.

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[Tablizer]

Yip, but two wrongs don't make a right. Palestinians have a right to be pissed. Most nations agreed on borders up to 1967, and then Israel swiped their land. If Israel claims it's "war gains", then other side won't agree the war is over.

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[luis_a_espinal]

Yet Israel continues to illegally seize Palestinian land

No one can seize land that had no official owner or steward before their arrival.

The reality is that Israel:

• - was founded because every other nation threatened to kill Jewish refugees that were looking to re-settle.
• - transformed a previously dying landscape into a much more fertile one that is capable of supporting our still growing population
• - given up land for the sake of peace which has never manifested
• - has contributed numerous technological and biological breakthroughs that power quite a large portion of our modern society

Most screeching millennials don't remember this from their childhood, but the Israeli occupation of the Sinai Peninsula [wikipedia.org] is one of those examples. Through multiple rounds of coordinated attacks from Egypt and Syria, Israel managed to hold out. They only gave up the land for the sake of peace, and ever since then Egypt has used the southern border as a place to launch rockets into Israel. When your entire society has been hunted across the globe, it makes sense that you get sick of giving in.

Frankly, I think the world should thank their lucky stars Israel turned to using guilt to gain favor (see Yad Vashem [wikipedia.org]). It's only a matter of time until they get screwed again and capitalize on the society of warriors they have built. I've been around the middle east enough to say with all my heart, Syria would be better off under Israeli and western rule. I hope they expand.

I support Israel's right to exist, but this is truly borrowing from the Lebensraum pages, in great part by using technological contributions as some sort of rationalization (all the way to suggest making Syria the next Czechoslovakia.)

The issues involving Israel and Palestine are complex, and both parties (in addition to the Arab nations that sponsored previous wars against Israel) have a lot of blame to share. You aren't doing Israel any favors by spouting such mindless, self-righteous, supremacist dribb

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[JabrTheHut]

The issues involving Israel and Palestine are complex...

People keep saying this, usually in an effort to keep Israel from being criticised. The issue is really very simple. Isarel occupies the West Bank, transplants settlers there, and practices apartheid. Israel could pull out if it wished to - it has the most powerful military in the region, orders of magnitude bigger than all its neighbours combined - but it doesn't want to. Israel could indicate it wants peace by stopping settlements, but it just announced thousands more settlement houses will be built.

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[luis_a_espinal]

People keep saying this, usually in an effort to keep Israel from being criticised.

And I squarely criticize Israel here. So if you are aiming this to me, then fuck off.

If the comment is done in general, then I agree with you.

It is true that people say such things to avoid criticism of Israel. But that in itself does not deny the fact that shit is complex, and that both sides have committed foul-ups, regardless of who started it.

You are absolutely right, Israel started as a land-grab, pure colonialism. It doesn't change the fact that, decades later, people have been born it (ergo,

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[JabrTheHut]

But that in itself does not deny the fact that shit is complex...

I'm still mystified where the complexity is. The problem is really simple. A state has invaded and and is occupying land and denying the residents of that area either their own state or Israeli citizenship, because of racism and greed. Where's the complexity?

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[JabrTheHut]

Most screeching millennials don't remember this from their childhood, but the Israeli occupation of the Sinai Peninsula [wikipedia.org] is one of those examples. Through multiple rounds of coordinated attacks from Egypt and Syria, Israel managed to hold out. They only gave up the land for the sake of peace, and ever since then Egypt has used the southern border as a place to launch rockets into Israel.

What? You obviously haven't even read your own link. Egypt has a peace treaty with Israel, the longest in the Middle East. Are you confusing Egypt with Gaza? Do you even know what you're talking about?

No, obviously youy don't, so let me inform you:
- Israel attacked Egypt in 1956, with the collusion of the UK and France, but decided not to annex the Sinai because of world opposition, especially the US: https://www.haaretz.com/israel... [haaretz.com].
- Israel attacked Egypt in 1967, with U

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[ARos]

When you say "Palestinian land", that would imply that there was a Palestinian nation (or Palestinian people) prior to the establishment of the State of Israel. There was not. Ever. Your propaganda is rubbish and devoid of historical merit.
--
What you refer to as "Palestinian land" prior to the British Mandate was part of a larger Ottoman province of Southern Syria (whose capital was Damascus - not Jerusalem). Your "Palestine" consisted of the Ottoman sanjaks of Gaza, Nablus, Acre, and Safed for 400 year

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[Curtman]

People who live there right now are having their homes and land confiscated. They have no right to return. Its your propaganda that conflicts with current reality.

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[Curtman]

Israel may not be a signatory to the geneva convention, but we are. We should not be allied with anyone who disregards it. They are not our friends, they are tyrants.

While the first three conventions dealt with combatants, the Fourth Geneva Convention was the first to deal with humanitarian protections for civilians in a war zone. There are currently 196 countries party to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, including this and the other three treaties.[1] [wikipedia.org]

Haha

[backslashdot]

Not even a token muslim majority county in there. LOL. I mean, they could have wussied out and added Albania or Bosnia and Herzegovina or something if they didn't want to be in I don't give a fuck land.

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[fred6666]

Bosnia is quite low on that democratic index:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Albania is a bit better.

But they are missing democracies such as Taiwan, Costa Rica, which both scores higher than Israel itself.

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[fred6666]

Malaysia could have been on the list however.

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[Sun]

Malaysia has not diplomatic relations with Israel.

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[jlar]

Malaysia could have been on the list however.

Malaysia is openly hostile towards Israel. In all Malaysian passports it is for example written that: "This passport is valid for all countries except Israel". And the two countries have no formal diplomatic relations. So, no it does not make sense for Israel to include Malaysia on the list.

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[fred6666]

I was just saying that if the only criteria is being democratic, Malaysia would have been on it.

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[140Mandak262Jamuna]

What the hell? Do you know the country with world's second largest Muslim population?

It is India. India is in the list. Till recently it was THE LARGEST MUSLIM population in the world. Recently Indonesia's total population exceeded India's muslim population.

You want Israel to export weapons to countries that have avowed to erase Israel off the face of earth?

Anyway Muslim countries don't need any knowledge from Israel. They have Allah on their side and all the truth a human would need exists in the Q

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[backslashdot]

I never said I wanted them to do anything. I was making an observation, it was more for humor. Anyway, what's your point regarding India? If muslims are not in the majority in a democracy, they are not the ones making and ultimately enforcing the laws & policy of the country. In fact the current Indian government is governed by a fairly explicitly pro-hindu party.

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[140Mandak262Jamuna]

Muslims routinely make it to the top of the government. Several Presidents were Muslims, the last one was actually from what you call "the pro hindu party". The Cabinet routinely includes Christians, Muslims, Sikhs. The armed forces are integrated, as are the police, judiciary and the administration.

All its wealth was looted by the colonists, still it manages to maintain some form of democracy, peaceful transfer of power. The abject poverty patently visible for all to see and some form of democracy. Even

This is the official list

[Alain Williams]

who they can in reality sell to -- who knows ?

Proven Democracy?

[aerogems]

Doesn't that rule out the US? I'd say after Trump was elected, but definitely after the 2020 election where there were multiple concerted efforts to overturn the results and then there have been multiple ongoing efforts to undermine/infiltrate/co-opt key positions ahead of the next round of elections.

India doesn't seem like it belongs on the list either for the same basic reasons. Just s/Trump/Modi/

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[battingly]

It's borderline now, but after 2024 it will no longer be. Just look at what's happening in the state legislatures. The 2024 presidential election will be a farce.

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[Deal In One]

Yeah, was odd seeing India when there is currently a scandal over NSO's Pegasus being found in opposition political leaders and journalists phones.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-new... [ndtv.com]

Doesn't sound like a proven current democracy to me. Maybe it was a proven democracy before the BJP got into power a few years ago.

Dumb Question.....

[8127972]

Could this be a response to The NSO Group and everything that surrounds them? Thoughts?

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[fredrated]

Yep, I think they are feeling the heat and are in damage control.

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[q4Fry]

I certainly fucking hope so. And frankly that asshat that runs NSO should be prosecuted by the Israelis for the abject lies he's already promulgated in defense of his company and industry. "Law abiding citizens have nothing to be afraid of." He's likely enabled thousands---if not tens of thousands---of killings in the last ten years.

Get fucked, Shalev Hulio.

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[Sun]

It's a combination of two things, I think.

The first is precisely that. NSO group has been getting a lot of (justified) bad press lately, and being an export restricted company, the Israeli government has not been able to legitimately dodge the flak.

I'll be clear: the Israeli government gets a lot of crap for anything even tangenially related to Israel as a whole, justified or not. In this case, however, it is justified.

The other part is how those countries made their way into the allowed export list i

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[BardBollocks]

Certainly - you can't have just anyone using cyberweapons to spy on journalists, politicians, activists and lawyers. Only authorised countries should be allowed to do that..

Desperation

[Jeremy Erwin]

It sounds like a desperate, last ditch attempt to save NSO Group's business model.

India is in. Pakistan and China out

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

Very good start.

Remove the Successes

[Retired ICS]

So the "successful" authoritarian tyrants have been removed leaving only the "I wanna be" authoritarian tyrants with access to the CyberWeapons. As more and more of the "wanna be's" join the authoritarian tyranical dictator club, I assume they will be removed from the list as well?

I won't hold my breath ...

I think the weapons should be provided *only* to the "removed" tyrants and that the "wanna be's" should be prohibited.
What they have done is exactly backwards ...

Notably absent

[ISayWeOnlyToBePolite]

Note that Poland and Hungary isn't on the approved list.

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[Gabest]

If this makes them better, then giving this tech to the listed countries makes them a worse place. It's just logical.

Makes no sense

[Gabest]

Why would the better countries need to spy on their own people and not the bad ones?

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[znrt]

they wouldn't. this is all bullshit, so as to give the impression that israel isn't a prime abuser of human and political rights, model democracy and hi-tech military grade espionage be damned.

PR posing by an ethnic cleansing regime

[BardBollocks]

We need a UN sanctioned regime change operation in Israel. For all the Humanitarian excuses used by the US and allies for past regime change operations it should be a shoe in for the UN Security Council to bring it about seeing what Israel has been doing since they invaded Palestine. ...oh wait.. the US and and allies have been vetoing every time anyone so much as sneezes in Israel's direction after their latest round of crimes against humanity.

Imagine if the Nazis had such influence in foreign governments