Knesset committee approves Shin Bet tracking of coronavirus patients for an additional 5 days, and the extension can be continued further if the legislative process is initiated.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

The Knesset Intelligence and Secret Services Subcommittee on Thursday approved an extension of Shin Bet surveillance and tracking of coronavirus patients until Tuesday.

The five-day extension was less than the week requested by the Ministry of Health and can be extended further if the Knesset moves to enshrine new powers for the Shin Bet in legislation.

The decision comes on the heels of a Supreme Court order, mandating that the government suspend the program until the Knesset passes legislation granting these specific surveillance powers to the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security services.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a hearing on this issue this Sunday.

At the end of Thursday’s hearing MK Gabi Ashkenazi, chairman of the committee, decided to approve the government’s request only until Tuesday, referencing the Supreme Court order.

“If on Sunday, the government decides that it is not moving forward with legislation, then the decision will expire. If the government wants to continue the program and pursue legislation, it will come to us on Tuesday and we will decide how long to extend it,” said Ashkenazi.

“I recommend increasing the epidemiological investigations and tests, as we understand that there is a risk, but we will have to live with this coronavirus routine for the coming year, and therefore it is important to increase the epidemiological investigations and explore other technological alternatives.”

The Ministry of Health’s Head of Public Health Services, Professor Sigal Sadetsky, spoke during Thursday’s hearing in favor of Shin Bet tracking. “It is quite clear to us that without the use of this tool, we will lose a lot of quarantines and a lot of patients,” she said. “We need this information in order to open the economy.”

MK Ashkenazi asked about the falling rates of new infections and Prof. Sadetsky answered, “We record between 170 to 180 new infections daily. But we need to look at the big picture.”

“As infections fall and there are no new imported cases from abroad, you must understand that we need this ‘tweezers’ approach. Most of the exit strategy is built on this. After we have opened so much, we will begin to see infections spread in communities again. This is exactly the time we will have to locate each individual case and its contacts.”

During the hearing, Deputy Attorney General Raz Nazri asked the committee to approve the continuation of the Shin Bet tracking for another week. He said, “The Supreme Court ruled that if the government wants to continue with the tracking, it should be done by legislation, and if we want to extend in the meantime, a legislative process should be initiated. There is no chance of passing legislation in a week.”

“We are asking for a week because this week, a meeting should be held by the Prime Minister, relevant ministers and security services to decide whether to initiate legislation or not. At this moment, no decision has been made as to whether to start the legislative process or not… If we don’t legislate, the tracking will certainly be stopped immediately. ”

In a High Court ruling on Sunday, Supreme Court Justice Esther Hayut said, “We must not let the exceptional circumstances we are dealing with these days put us on a slippery slope, in terms of normalizing the use of intrusive and exceptional means.”

The court ruled that as of April 30th, “The Shin Bet cannot continue to manage the coronavirus outbreak through the mechanism set forth in Section 7 (b) (6) of the Shin Bet Law. If the state wishes to continue to use the means currently utilized by the Shin Bet, it must act to legitimize such action in legislation.”

“If a legislative proceeding is initiated, the validity of the extension decision may be continued for an additional short period, not exceeding a few weeks, to enable the completion of this procedure.”

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The app compares phone user’s whereabouts with constantly updated Health Ministry information.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The Health Ministry launched Sunday a phone app that enables people to instantly be informed if they have unknowingly crossed paths with a coronavirus victim so that they can quarantine themselves.

Called HaMagen (“The Shield”), the app “allows you to get a notification (time and date) regarding your exposure to a confirmed patient” within the past 14 days, said the ministry in an accompanying statement.

The application, available both in the Google Play store and Apple’s AppStore, is updated in real-time with the history of every new patient’s whereabouts. This way, people do not have to keep studying the ministry’s website to see if they were in the vicinity of someone who has tested positive.

Upon opening the app, Health Ministry data is automatically cross-referenced with all the places people have been with their phones. If a match is made, the app “redirects the user to a link to the Health Ministry’s website, which will let you know what steps to take and allow you to report to the Health Ministry for home isolation.”

“With this we can stop the spread of the disease and protect those closest to us,” the ministry said.

For those fearing for their privacy, the ministry assured users that all the information about their whereabouts is stored solely on their phones. No information is given to the authorities about peoples’ movements; they are simply told that they have been near coronavirus victims and should go into self-isolation to ensure their health.

In this way the app works differently from the Shin Bet’s tracking of citizens’ phones. The internal security agency then informs the Health Ministry if someone had been within two meters of an ill person for more than 10 minutes so that he or she could be ordered into self-isolation.

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