As coronavirus cases surge in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing to restart a controversial cellphone contact-tracing program put on hold this month. But the spy agency that ran the surveillance doesn't want to do it again.
Passengers have their temperature checked before entering a railway station in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya on June 22.Passengers have their temperature checked before entering a railway station in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya on June 22.As Israel faces a new surge of coronavirus cases, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing to restart a controversial cellphone contact-tracing program put on hold this month.
On Sunday, Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman pleaded with Cabinet ministers not to compel his agency to resume the surveillance. He cited the technologies used in counterterrorism operations in his argument against legislating the program, according to Israeli Channel 12 News, which obtained a leaked recording of the Cabinet meeting. The spy chief offered to train a civilian-managed contact-tracing program, which he said could be effective at tracking hundreds of virus cases.
A leading Israeli technology and privacy rights expert, Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler of the Israel Democracy Institute, said a contact-tracing app already exists — Hamagen, which a million Israelis have downloaded voluntarily — and its more advanced version could be operational within one week. She said the Shin Bet program is intrusive and undemocratic.
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