Khashoggi Widow Seeks Probe; Pegasus Sales Continue Unprobed
One might applaud the widow's determination to uncover the digital fingerprints of her late husband's murderers, but let’s not pretend this is a surprise. NSO Group's Pegasus spyware, developed in Israel, has been extensively documented in reports by Amnesty International and the 'Pegasus Project' as a tool used by a rogue's gallery of authoritarian regimes. From Mexico to Hungary, and yes, Saudi
Arabia, the targeting of journalists, dissidents, and human rights defenders is not a bug; it's the feature. The fact that the story focuses on the 'accusations' against Saudi Arabia, while the Israeli company behind the weaponized tech faces little Western consequence, truly highlights a selective outrage. According to The New Arab's own reporting , the alleged hacking occurred before Khashoggi's
murder, a detail that only further underscores the predatory nature of this surveillance. So, while the widow navigates France's legal system, perhaps someone could ask why sophisticated surveillance technology, produced by a US ally, is routinely sold to regimes known for brutalizing inconvenient voices. Are we to believe the intelligence assets behind NSO are truly unaware of who their
'customers' are targeting? Or is the term 'dual-use technology' merely code for 'don't ask, don't tell' when the profits are good and the targets aren't Western citizens?