Former Polish governments used Israeli software to spy on opposition, says PM
Former Polish governments used Israeli software to spy on opposition, says PM Submitted by MEE staff on Tue, 10/13/2026 - 12:05 Donald Tusk said the then ruling Law and Justice Party allowed Israel access to data collected using Pegasus spyware Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk speaks during the opening session of the Warsaw Security Forum in Warsaw, Poland, on 12 October 2026 (Wojtek…
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk revealed on Monday that previous Polish governments utilized Israeli software to spy on opposition politicians and judicial system members. The Law and Justice Party, in power from 2015 to 2022, allowed Israel access to data gathered using Pegasus spyware, according to a two-year parliamentary investigation.
The PiS government paid $7.65 million for the Pegasus system, which was used to monitor opposition politicians and critical members of the legal system from 2017 to 2023. Tusk stated that the data collected was accessible to NSO Group, the Israeli company behind Pegasus, and not fully under Polish government control. The Internal Security Agency, foreign intelligence services, Central Anti-Corruption Bureau, and justice ministry were implicated in the controversy.
NSO Group has a troubled past, losing a US federal court case in 2025 and being barred from targeting WhatsApp users. The company recently appointed David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel under the Trump administration, as its executive chair.
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