Netanyahu Meets Visegrad Leaders in Budapest Before Hungary and Poland Purchase Pegasus

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hosts the first summit meeting between Israel and the Visegrad Group (V4) countries in Budapest on July 19, 2017, meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło (later Mateusz Morawiecki), and leaders from Czech Republic and Slovakia. The summit focuses on security cooperation, counter-terrorism, and technology partnerships between Israel and Central European nations increasingly aligned on immigration and illiberal governance.

Within months of this summit, both Hungary and Poland purchase NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware in major procurement deals. Poland’s Central Anticorruption Bureau acquires Pegasus for 87.6 million euros, while Hungary’s Ministry of Interior purchases licenses for approximately 6 million euros through Communication Technologies Ltd from NSO’s Luxembourg-registered entity. Subsequent investigations by Israeli media outlets Haaretz and TheMarker suggest a pattern where Pegasus sales to certain countries coincide with Netanyahu’s diplomatic visits.

The Visegrad summit represents a significant moment in the internationalization of Israeli surveillance technology, facilitating the export of military-grade spyware to European Union member states. Both Hungary and Poland would later be exposed as using Pegasus against domestic opposition figures, journalists, and civil society - Hungary targeting at least 10 lawyers and critics of Orban’s government, and Poland using the tool against 578 people from 2017 to 2022 according to the prosecutor general’s office. The summit exemplifies how diplomatic engagement between authoritarian-leaning governments creates channels for surveillance technology proliferation that undermines democratic norms within the EU itself.