PARIS -- Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz was set to meet with his French counterpart Wednesday, amid the fallout over revelations that President Emmanuel Macron may have been considered a target for surveillance through an Israeli firm's spyware licensed to governments around the world.
The Washington Post and other news organizations reported last week that phone numbers for Macron and other world leaders, as well as for activists and journalists, were found on a list that included some people targeted by government clients of the Israeli surveillance giant NSO Group and its Pegasus spyware tool.
None of the world leaders' devices were forensically examined by The Post or its reporting partners, but tests of other phones on the list turned up evidence of attempted or successful spyware intrusions.
NSO Group has said the inclusion of numbers on the list does not prove that the phones were selected for surveillance. But in France and other countries, the revelations have prompted uncomfortable questions for the company, its presumed clients and Israeli diplomats. The numbers of several French ministers also were on the list.
Ahead of the Israeli-French meeting, French government spokesman Gabriel Attal said Wednesday afternoon that French Defense Minister Florence Parly would use the talks to "question her counterpart about the knowledge the Israeli government had of the activities of NSO's clients."
Attal said the French minister would also inquire about what measures have been put in place, or will be in place in the future, "to prevent a misuse of these tools that are highly intrusive."
The Elysee presidential palace has emphasized that further investigation into the Pegasus allegations is needed. But in a sign that French officials are taking the reports seriously, Macron called an emergency cybersecurity meeting to discuss the revelations last Thursday, and the government has ordered several investigations.
Attal cautioned that those inquiries are still ongoing, but he suggested Wednesday that the government may take additional measures if the accusations are confirmed.
In a statement Tuesday, Israel's Defense Ministry said Gantz would "update [Parly] on the topic of NSO" during his visit Wednesday. The ministry added that they would also discuss "the crisis in Lebanon and the developing agreement with Iran."
The Israeli statement said "the trip was planned approximately one month ago, regardless of the NSO issue."
The recent revelations have significantly raised the diplomatic stakes of the visit, amid heightened public scrutiny of Israel's role. "Victims of Pegasus spyware should not only point the finger at the countries that targeted them," France's Le Monde newspaper wrote in an editorial Tuesday. "Their complaints should also be addressed to Israeli authorities, who validated the contracts concluded by the NSO Group."
Israel has set up a task force of senior officials to examine the spyware allegations, Reuters reported last week, citing two Israeli sources.
On Wednesday, "representatives of several bodies visited the office of NSO in order to assess the allegations raised in regards to the company," the Israeli Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Gantz said last week that Israel authorizes the "export of cyber-products solely to governments, only for lawful use and exclusively for the purposes of preventing and investigating crime and terrorism." He added that countries acquiring the systems "must abide by their commitments" to those requirements.
Information for this article was contributed by Michael Birnbaum and Drew Harwell of The Washington Post.