The Supreme Court of Justice on Monday ordered the government to severely restrict the use of Shin Bet’s detection technology to track certified coronavirus carriers as the pandemic begins to slow down.
Israel has used the practice to monitor COVID-19 patients diagnosed since the start of the coronavirus outbreak in Israel, calling for it to be a necessary step to monitor spread of the disease. Rights groups, meanwhile, argued that the measure is unlawful and clearly goes against the civil rights of citizens.
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Message sent to Israelis mistakenly identified by the tracking tech as being close to an authenticated carrier
A seven-judge panel instructed the state to use the security agency’s search engines just after March 14 – once the economy reopens – and only in cases where the patient refuses cooperation with authorities during epidemiological study.
The judges also ruled that the government’s use of such surveillance tools “creates a grand, dramatic and magical violation of the right to privacy and the democratic content of life in Israel.”
“The damage described is exacerbated when attention is paid to the use of Shin Bet tracking technology having been in use since March last year (with the exception of a short summer hiatus). When communication tracking is used for such a long time, it is no longer an unusual and short-term event, but a worrying use, ”said the judges in their ruling.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut noted in the decision that the use of these measures – which have been developed to counter the state’s enemies – should “remove” civilians from sleep. a supporter of democracy. “
Justice Hanan Melcer said the use of Shin Bet tracking devices has diminished and is no longer justified due to the success of the Israeli vaccination campaign, Shin Bet’s own choice to limit civilian detection and the number of tracking errors made by Israelis who was never in contact with a carrier into forced self-isolation.
Melcer said the country’s representatives have called for Israel to be the only democratic state that has used such measures.
Justice Yitzhak Amit criticized the government for using such a powerful and secret device, which sought to ensure public security, in such a careless way as to be open to the world, enemies Israel among them.
“When the coronavirus infection began, the floor of the Shin Bet floor opened and the country’s powerful and powerful tracking and detection system was unveiled,” Amit wrote.
“Until then, little was known about the system, as the Shin Bet used it wisely and carefully as part of its efforts to stop terrorism and for security reasons only. The emergence of Shin Bet’s tools and capabilities, as well as its limitations, could harm its activities at the expense of future public safety.
“No other democracy has used the capabilities of its own security agencies to monitor civilians, even during a coronavirus crisis,” Amit said.
In a previous petition that opposed the government’s use of Shin Bet tracking technology, the High Court argued that the government could not continue to use the Shin Bet without going through a law on the matter and as that they have to find other civil options.
After the decision, the government stopped using the Shin Bet, partly due to pressure from the Shin Bet chief, but later passed a law to allow civilians to be traced through the Shin Bet. The security service when the number of infected people rose.