Israel spied on Poland's entire government through Pegasus

Poland's Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, has called the Pegasus software scandal a "crime against the State" and accused the former PiS government of spying on the Polish government with this system, sold by Israel supposedly to hunt down incivil.

The Pegasus software, developed by the Israeli company NSO Group, was sold to Poland supposedly to pursue incivil. However, according to the Polish Prime Minister, **Donald Tusk**, Israel used the program to spy on Poland's own government. Tusk has called the scandal a "crime against the State" and has accused the previous government of the **PiS** (Law and Justice) party of having allowed and used this spying system.

## What is Pegasus and why was it sold to Poland

Pegasus is a spying software created by the Israeli company **NSO Group**. It is marketed with the promise of serving security forces to infiltrate the phones of suspected incivil and terrorists. Poland acquired this tool on that basis: the fight against organized crime. The problem is that, according to the accusations, the system was also used to monitor political opponents, prosecutors and members of the government itself.

## The scale of the spying: hundreds of thousands of data points

The data collected affects **hundreds of thousands of Poles**. Among those spied on are politicians, prosecutors and opponents. The scale of the case has led Tusk to describe it as the biggest scandal since the fall of communism in Poland. The accusation points directly at the previous **PiS** government, which allegedly used Pegasus for purposes other than those declared when the software was purchased.

## A "crime against the State" with economic consequences

Calling the spying a "crime against the State" is not just a political phrase. It affects institutional trust and the country's legal certainty, two factors that weigh on foreign investment and the risk premium. Poland, as a member of the **European Union**, is also under EU scrutiny for the use of mass surveillance software. The investigation remains open and incivil liability has not yet been determined.