Published: 3 April 2020
Last updated: 4 March 2024
Knesset panel okays controversial phone tracking by Shin Bet to fight virus (Times of Israel)
Subcommittee gives approval until April 30 for domestic spy agency to use mass surveillance program to locate potential coronavirus carriers
Coronavirus crisis exposes Shin Bet's secret database (Al-Monitor)
Resistance to the Israeli government’s emergency measure to track coronavirus patients has revealed one of the most secretive tools of the Shin Bet in its war against terrorism
Israel’s Justice ministry opposes ‘unusual’ collaboration with NSO to fight coronavirus (Haaretz)
A joint venture led by defence chief Bennett to employ controversial spyware firm’s services to ‘grade’ coronavirus cases raises legal obstacles, officials say, while the Health Ministry says it’s unnecessary
‘No tenders in war’: defence minister insists on team-up with NSO to battle coronavirus (Haaretz)
Naftali Bennett's party member Ayelet Shaked, who is close friends with NSO's president, backs defence minister’s initiative to cooperate with controversial company
‘Coronavirus coup’? As outbreak grows, authoritarians around the world seize the moment (Los Angeles Times)
The latest example is in Hungary, where parliament on Monday granted Prime Minister Viktor Orban sweeping new authority to rule by decree for an unlimited period of time.
Another warning sign, according to analysts, is when newly imposed government measures are specifically engineered to resist oversight by courts or lawmakers, or appear to have little direct connection to actual efforts to halt the spread of infection.
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under criminal indictment on charges of bribe-taking, fraud and breach of trust, put off the scheduled start of his trial by closing the courts, handed the government unprecedented surveillance powers.
READ MORE
Netanyahu’s shameful civics lesson for young Israelis (Al-Monitor)
AKIVA ELDAR: The dismissiveness of Netanyahu towards the courts, minorities rights and the rule of law has seeped into the nation's matriculation exams
Photo: Magen David Adom members transfer an Israeli man, suspected of being Covid-19 positive, in Bnei Brak, March 31 (Gili Yaari/Flash90)
