"REVEALED: Israeli firm behind Pegasus spyware used to hack US journalists, politicians and widow of Jamal Khashoggi also paid Biden adviser Anita Dunn for political consulting advice
NSO, the private Israeli firm behind the controversial spyware Pegasus, had previously launched a public relations crusade led by SKDKnickerbocker
White House senior adviser Anita Dunn is the managing director of SKDKnickerbocker, which coordinated public relations efforts by NSO in 2019"
Media outlets investigated a data leak exposing possible targets of NSO clients using its spyware
The leak was of a list of more than 50,000 phone numbers and included journalists and politicians
Women on the list were close to murdered Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi"
"The Oregon state employee pension fund is one of the largest investors,
if not the largest, having sunk $233 million into Novalpina Capital, the private equity firm, in 2017."
"Oregon was Novalpina’s first major investor.
Stephen Peel and Stefan Kowski, two founding Novalpina Capital partners, showed up at Oregon treasury offices in the Portland suburb of Tigard in November 2017 to make a pitch to the Oregon Investment Council, which oversees the state’s $90 billion pension fund."
***
"The Washington Post was one of the first outlets to break the story, publishing a 4,000-word dive into the spyware and its influence.
However, the article failed to include any information about NSO's ties to President Joe Biden's senior adviser."
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"a group of 43 senators — 29 Republicans and 14 Democrats — wants to implement a law that would make it a felony for Americans to support the international boycott against Israel, which was launched in protest of that country’s decades-old occupation of Palestine.
The two primary sponsors of the bill are Democrat Ben Cardin of Maryland and Republican Rob Portman of Ohio.
Perhaps the most shocking aspect is the punishment: Anyone guilty of violating the prohibitions will face a minimum civil penalty of $250,000 and a maximum criminal penalty of $1 million and 20 years in prison."
"The bill’s co-sponsors include the senior Democrat in Washington, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, his New York colleague Kirsten Gillibrand, and several of the Senate’s more liberal members, such as Ron Wyden of Oregon,
Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, and Maria Cantwell of Washington.
Illustrating the bipartisanship that AIPAC typically summons, it also includes several of the most right-wing senators such as Ted Cruz of Texas, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, and Marco Rubio of Florida."
***
"Erdan said Israel views the company’s decision as “the de-facto adoption of anti-Semitic practices and advancement of the de-legitimization of the Jewish state and the dehumanization of the Jewish people.”
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"The company’s PR is currently being done by Mercury Public Affairs, where retired Sen. Barbara Boxer is a co-chair and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is a partner.
Mercury, which receives $120,000 monthly to represent NSO, did not respond to a request for comment
https://prospect.org/power/biden-advisers-ride-on-pegasus-nso-spyware/
The list possibly includes one current White House official.
Anita Dunn took a leave of absence from her consulting firm SKDKnickerbocker and joined the Biden White House in January as a senior adviser. Her firm advised NSO Group in 2019.
It’s unclear whether she personally worked for the company. Dunn has circumvented federal ethics rules that require disclosures of income, assets, and clients by serving as a temporary employee in the executive branch and taking a salary just below a threshold that would require public filings.
She says she plans to leave the White House "soon."
Dunn’s firm defended NSO on the record. Even if she may have not been directly working for NSO, Dunn was willing to lend her name—hers is the D in SKDK—to repair the company’s image.
“What sets NSO apart from many other cyber technology firms is its commitment to an ethical business framework that relies on the expertise of people with national security and intelligence backgrounds from around the world to evaluate potential customers and review current customers,” Dunn’s firm told The Intercept in 2019. SKDK declined to comment to the Prospect."
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