The Israeli Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee decided on Wednesday to freeze proposed legislation allowing police to use cellular phone tracking to enforce stay-at-home orders.
Committee chairman Knesset member Gabi Ashkenazi of the Blue and White Party said in a statement after the meeting that reservations about the bill centered on wording that “would allow the practice to continue,” with government representatives present agreeing to “re-examine the wording of the [proposed] law,” according to The Times of Israel.
Yamina Knesset member Ayelet Shaked, among others, backed the decision, tweeting: “The police carry out thousands of home visits to those who need to be in quarantine, and so the benefit is outweighed by the harm to privacy.”
In March, the Israeli government separately authorized the country’s Shin Bet security service to utilize advanced surveillance technology ordinarily employed in counterterrorism operations to conduct contact tracing on confirmed coronavirus carriers.
That program is currently ongoing.
