Iranian intelligence hacked the mobile phone of former military Chief of Staff and head of Blue and White party Benny Gantz, revealed political circles in Tel Aviv on Friday.
Gantz is the toughest rival of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the forthcoming Knesset elections.
A source leaked the news to a reporter at Channel 12 saying that two top officials in Israel’s Shin Bet met with Gantz five weeks ago and told him that Iranian intelligence had hacked his phone.
Shin Bet agents warned Gantz that any sensitive information could be used against him in the future and told him to proceed as he sees fit.
Channel 12 correspondent Amit Segal reported that the mobile content, including personal details and private and professional texts, were now in the hands of Iranian intelligence. He further noted that no classified information is likely to have been on the device.
Israel's former Prime Minister Ehud Barak referred to the probability that Netanyahu might be behind the leak, stressing that the purpose is to defame Gantz in front of voters; and not protect Israel against the Iranian intelligence.
Barak added that Iran doesn’t need superpowers to hack a mobile phone, and Gantz has been a former military chief of staff for four years now and “there is nothing on the device that is sensitive for national security.”
The Blue and White party reacted in a statement saying: “We do not respond to issues at the heart of national security. It must be said that the incident in question took place approximately four years after the end of chief of staff Gantz’s term.”
The party also said that the publication of the news of the hack at this point in the campaign “raises many questions.”
