Registry

Does NSO Group support Israel?

NSO Group Technologies

Support documentedupdated 2026-09-25

Yes — NSO Group has documented support for Israel on record. Every claim below links to its source.

Filed under: Tech companies · Companies that support Israel

Background

NSO Group appears on this site because of what it is and how it is regulated — an Israeli company in Herzliya whose exports are licensed one by one by Israel's Ministry of Defense — and not because of any recorded donation, which we did not find. Everything else about NSO is contested and belongs in context rather than in the evidence list. On 4 November 2021 the US Commerce Department added NSO to the Entity List, stating that 'the Israeli companies NSO Group and Candiru developed and supplied spyware to foreign governments that used this tool to maliciously target government officials, journalists, businesspeople, activists, academics, and embassy workers'; NSO has long said it sells only to vetted government agencies for counter-terrorism and serious crime and shuts down customers who abuse the tools. In WhatsApp's US civil case, a jury awarded roughly $167 million in punitive damages in May 2025; in October 2025 Judge Phyllis Hamilton entered a permanent injunction barring NSO from targeting WhatsApp but cut the punitive award to $4 million as excessive, and NSO has appealed. Apple filed its own suit in November 2021 but moved in September 2024 to dismiss it, saying litigation risked exposing its threat-intelligence methods; NSO did not oppose. Alleged misuse of Pegasus by foreign governments is a matter between NSO and those buyers — it is not evidence about support for Israel, and it is not treated as such here.

US Federal Register (govinfo) — Entity List rule, 4 Nov 2021 Amnesty International (May 2025 — jury verdict) CyberScoop (Oct 2025 — injunction, damages cut to $4m) Al Jazeera (Oct 2025) CyberScoop (Sep 2024 — Apple moves to drop its suit) Knight First Amendment Institute — WhatsApp v. NSO case page

Timeline of documented support

2010201320162019202220252010 — Operations in Israel: State of Israel (employment, taxes, cyber-industry base)Operations in Israel20102021-07 — Operations in Israel: Israeli Ministry of Defense — Defense Export Control Agency (DECA)Operations in Israel2021-072023-10 — Political (PAC): U.S. Senate, U.S. Department of State, Executive Office of the President (Q4 2023 filing); U.S. House of Representatives (Q1 2024 filing) — via lobbying firm Paul Hastings LLPPolitical (PAC)2023-102025-10 — Acquisition: US investor group led by Robert Simonds (buyer); Israeli shareholders (sellers)Acquisition2025-10

Documented support

TypeDateAmountRecipientSources
Operations in Israel2010—State of Israel (employment, taxes, cyber-industry base)
Israeli company: NSO Group Technologies was founded in Israel in 2010 and is headquartered in Herzliya, where it develops and operates the Pegasus phone-surveillance system sold to government agencies abroad. Its Israeli nationality is not a matter of dispute — the US Commerce Department's Entity List rule of November 2021 refers to it in official government language as one of 'the Israeli companies NSO Group and Candiru,' and international coverage of its litigation consistently identifies it as an Israel-based firm.
Operations in Israel2021-07—Israeli Ministry of Defense — Defense Export Control Agency (DECA)
Every NSO sale abroad is a licensed Israeli defence export. NSO's products are classed as defence articles under Israeli law, so each export requires a licence from the Defense Export Control Agency (DECA) inside the Israeli Ministry of Defense, and the ministry publicly defends the regime — in July 2021 it stated that cyber products such as NSO's are exported 'for lawful use only.' Amnesty International's January 2020 campaign, which demanded Israel revoke NSO's export licence, likewise rests on the fact that the Israeli state, not the company alone, controls who may buy Pegasus. The same agency's approval was required before control of NSO could pass to foreign owners in 2025. This is a regulatory relationship with the Israeli government, not a donation.
Acquisition2025-10—US investor group led by Robert Simonds (buyer); Israeli shareholders (sellers)
In October 2025 NSO confirmed that a group of US-based investors led by film producer Robert Simonds had agreed to acquire a controlling interest, moving control of the company out of Israeli hands for the first time; co-founder Omri Lavie had held control since March 2023. Israeli reporting put the price at several tens of millions of dollars and noted that closing required clearance from the Israeli Ministry of Defense's Defense Export Control Agency as well as US regulatory approval. The change of ownership is recorded here because it changes who controls an Israeli-licensed exporter — the company's research and development base remained in Israel.
One source
Political (PAC)2023-10—U.S. Senate, U.S. Department of State, Executive Office of the President (Q4 2023 filing); U.S. House of Representatives (Q1 2024 filing) — via lobbying firm Paul Hastings LLP
NSO Group Technologies Ltd.'s own federal lobbying disclosures (LDA filings; client NSO Group Technologies Ltd., registrant Paul Hastings LLP, lobbyist Timothy Dickinson) report the identical specific issue under both the Defense (DEF) and International (INT) issue-area codes: "Discussion with U.S. stakeholders regarding the importance of NSO's Pegasus software in international defense and intelligence, particularly in light of ... the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023." The Q4 2023 filing (signed 2024-01-19; $30,000 in lobbying expenses that quarter, the only issue reported) lists contact with the U.S. Senate, the State Department and the Executive Office of the President. The Q1 2024 filing (signed 2024-04-22; also $30,000, again the only issue reported) repeats the same line, adds "the ongoing conflict in Ukraine," and lists contact with the U.S. House of Representatives instead. Both filings' foreign-entity-interest disclosure states plainly: "NSO Group Technologies is an Israeli cyberintelligence company who are the owners of the Pegasus spyware." This is NSO itself paying a Washington law firm to lobby U.S. officials in defense of its own product, naming a specific event (the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel) rather than listing Israel among routine country-relations issues; no bill number is cited. Because each quarter's filing discloses this as the sole lobbying issue, the reported $30,000 quarterly expense covers this activity, but the filings do not break out how much of it addressed the Israel reference specifically versus the Ukraine reference added in Q1 2024 — no dollar figure is attributed to Israel alone.

Frequently asked questions

Did NSO Group donate money to Israel or Israeli causes?

We have no records of cash donations, but NSO Group has documented support of other kinds (Operations in Israel, Acquisition, Political (PAC)). See the records on this page.

Where does this information come from?

Every record on this page links to its source — news reports, official company statements, tax filings, or government records. 11 distinct sources are cited for NSO Group. Our methodology page explains the full verification process.

Sources & citations

Record last updated: 2026-09-25

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