Gravitas plus: Who is behind Pegasus project?

Many of the organisations associated with the Pegasus project have been found to be linked with George Soros` Open Society Foundations (OSF).

New Delhi: The Pegasus row has created a furore in many countries across the world as a cohort of media organisations and other global entities claimed to have unearthed a massive snooping scandal.

However, a deeper look into the connections of these organisations raises serious questions on the legitimacy of such claims.

Many of these organisations have been found to be linked with George Soros’ Open Society Foundations (OSF). Soros, a Hungarian-born American, is a billionaire, investor and philanthropist who is one of the most controversial figures in the world.

Soros made a profit of $1 billion during the 1992 Black Wednesday UK currency crisis. He is currently among the 10 richest hedge fund managers in the world with worth around 8.6 billion dollars.

OSF is known to fund organisations that align with its objectives which call for “an open society”.

In Israel, the organizations that have got grants from OSF include a number of NGOs that deny the legitimacy of Israel. In Palestine, OSF funds NGOs like Al-Haq and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights – both of which are associated with Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – a designated terrorist organisation by US, EU, Canada and Israel.

In India, in January 2020, Soros announced a plan to set up a 1 billion dollar fund to build a global network of higher educational institutions that will help students put up a resistance against growing nationalism.

Soros has called India a Hindu nationalist state which is "suffering the biggest and most frightening setback".

This year the Pegasus Project came out which suggests about 300 Indians were spied on.

Is George Soros behind the Pegasus project?

17 media organisations and two global entities – Amnesty International and Forbidden Stories – were part of the Pegasus project. Both Amnesty and Forbidden Stories are beneficiaries of grants from the OSF.

In 2018, Amnesty got a 137,000 Euro grant from OSF for a campaign to repeal a law Ireland had passed.

In June 2021, a month before the Pegasus report came out, OSF named the former secretary-general of Amnesty as its Vice President for Global Affairs.

Forbidden Stories features OSF as a supporter on their website. Sherpa, a French NGO, a persistent litigator in India’s Rafale deal with France has also been a recipient of indirect funds from OSF through a third party.

These clearly establish links between these organisations and Soros. The same goes for the media organisations involved in the project.

The Media Research Centre of the US has said that many media organisations with links to Soros were part of the Pegasus project. The project itself is under investigation in several countries.

These facts point to a global conspiracy behind the Pegasus project. Could it be that a billionaire is using his power, influence and money to make media organisations shape narratives across countries?