In a conference call overnight Monday, members of the cabinet voted unanimously to approve emergency measures allowing the use of digital technologies to contain the spread of coronavirus in Israel. Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit was on the call.
The cabinet vote came hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon convened a press conference to announce decisions about what services would be available to the public in the time of the current health crisis, and what the government would be doing to provide financial assistance to workers placed on unpaid leave and business owners whose livelihood was at risk.
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Shin Bet domestic security agency Director Nadav Argaman said Tuesday that the agency is "well aware of the inherent sensitivities" of the situation, stressing that the agency will not retain any of the information gathered after the 30-day period approved by the cabinet.
Argaman said that only a select group of agents will have access to the information. "This measure is necessary to save lives," he asserted.
In Monday's statement, Netanyahu addressed the impending vote on the government employing digital tracking technology.
"Tonight, emergency measures for the use of digital means to track the spread of coronavirus and stop it will be approved. It was discussed for six hours. We asked for careful oversight of this tool so it would not be exploited. The tool will be in use for 30 days. Israel is a democracy, and we need to maintain a balance," the prime minister said.
The prime minister first brought up the possibility of using digital anti-terror technology to aid the battle against coronavirus in a speech on Saturday night, with an emphasis on using the technology to locate and follow anyone violating quarantine orders. The announcement caused intense debate, with some MKs and civil rights groups decrying it as "going too far."
Meretz leader Nitzan Horowitz asked the attorney general to block the use of anti-terror technology in the government's attempts to stop coronavirus. Mendelblit informed Horowitz that the matter would be looked into.
"After a legal examination, a decision was taken to apply various limitations to the tools that will be employed, including limiting the amount of time they are in use, legal oversight of how they are used, and the use made of the information collected," Mendelblit said.
