IC Technology & Cyber — 2026-07-17

NSO Group Co-Founder Travelled on Israeli Diplomatic Passport Raising Questions About State Links to Pegasus Spyware Sales

BLUFDocumented Israeli diplomatic cover for NSO's co-founder during a Pegasus sales mission collapses the state-independence claim that anchors the company's legal defenses across multiple jurisdictions.

An investigation by OCCRP, Código Morse, and Shomrim, coordinated with Forbidden Stories, found that NSO Group co-founder Shalev Hulio traveled to Panama on December 3, 2013, using an Israeli diplomatic passport, entering under the name "Shalev Holy" and telling Panamanian immigration he would stay at the Israeli embassy 12. Panamanian migration records list his profession as "diplomat" and his purpose of travel as "recreation," and his identity number and date of birth match corporate filings Hulio used in Israel, the UK, and Luxembourg 12. A former senior Panamanian official confirmed Hulio's use of the diplomatic passport, and the investigation ties the finding to a 2014 Panamanian probe into illegal wiretapping that targeted more than 150 people, including political rivals, journalists, judges, and diplomats, in which Hulio, who signed Panama's 2012 Pegasus contract, is referenced 12. Hulio called the allegations "entirely false and categorically denied," Israel's Defense and Foreign Ministries did not respond to requests for comment, and Panama's Security Ministry said it could not discuss details due to the ongoing wiretapping case, while Citizen Lab's John Scott-Railton and Israeli lawyer Eitay Mack said the disclosure raises questions about whether NSO's claimed separation from the Israeli government is a "smokescreen" 12.

Analysis
Diplomatic cover for a corporate founder closing a foreign government spyware contract points to state facilitation beyond Israel's acknowledged export-licensing role, giving Panama's dormant wiretapping probe and rights litigants elsewhere new grounds to challenge NSO's claimed independence from Jerusalem, a distinction now bearing on the U.S. investors who took control of the firm last year and inherit its reputational and legal exposure. The finding rests on a single consortium investigation; other outlets merely republished that reporting rather than independently verifying it, and it remains unclear whether the passport record becomes evidence in Panama's still-open case or stays confined to journalism. Israel may instead extend diplomatic documentation to executives of strategically valuable firms as a routine security and access courtesy without directing their commercial dealings.

2 sources

Co-Founder of Controversial Spyware Firm Had Israeli Diplomatic Passport - OCCRP
Cofundador de controvertida empresa de software espía tenía pasaporte diplomático israelí - Aristegui Noticias