Cambridge University Pauses Deal with UAE Over Israeli Pegasus Program
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Cambridge University, in an interview with The Guardian, reveals that there are no meetings with the UAE after realizing its association with the Israeli Pegasus spying program.
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Cambridge University pauses deal with UAE over allegations of their use of the Israeli Pegasus spying program was revealed.
Officials at the University of Cambridge have announced that the university has stopped talks with the UAE on a deal worth 400 million pounds (about $550 million) due to allegations accusing the Gulf state of using the controversial Israeli Pegasus spyware program.
In an interview with The Guardian, Cambridge’s outgoing vice-chancellor, Stephen Toope, reveals that there are no meetings with the UAE after realizing its association with the Israeli Pegasus spying program.
“There were further revelations about Pegasus that really caused us to decide that it’s not the right time to be pursuing these kinds of really ambitious plans with the UAE,” Toope explained to Varsity, a student newspaper.
The Guardian had already revealed the leakage of more than 50,000 phone numbers linked to public figures that interest the clients of NSO Group, the Israeli company that developed the Pegasus program.
In addition, the newspaper found that "The main government responsible for selecting hundreds of numbers in Britain is the Emirates."
Cambridge University halts £400m deal with UAE over Pegasus spyware claims https://t.co/en0dOlRCXk
— The Guardian (@guardian) October 14, 2021
Last July, shortly after the announcement of the partnership between Cambridge and the UAE, it was revealed that the latter used the Israeli program to spy on activists and journalists in several countries.
The UAE-Cambridge project was supposed to include an institute for co-innovation and a plan to improve and reform UAE's educational system, as well as to discuss climate change and energy.
