Five South Africans ejected from Israel over Omicron variant fears

Group was coming to comfort the family whose son was killed in last week’s terror attack; ministers approve limited Shin Bet tracking program to head off new threat

Omicron Covid variant: South African Jews ejected from Israel (Jerusalem Post)
Five South African nationals who arrived in Israel Friday morning were removed from the country, and say they were subjected to ‘inhumane, disrespectful’ treatment

'We came to comfort a bereaved family in Israel – and were treated like criminals' (Haaretz)
Five travellers from South Africa, who were already en route when Israel decided to close its borders due to the Omicron COVID variant, describe a disturbing ordeal at Ben-Gurion Airport after landing

Ministers okay limited Shin Bet tracking program in bid to head off Omicron threat (Times of Israel)
Amid opposition to controversial mobile phone surveillance, including from several ministers, government says tool will only be used for carriers of variant, will end Thursday

Shin Bet security agency proposes new civil body to digitally track Omicron patients in Israel (Haaretz)
When COVID first erupted, Israel decided to have the Shin Bet digitally track patients to locate people that might have been infected, however the agency asks the government to set up a civilian group for this purpose

Photo: The group from South Africa (Courtesy of Ilana Smith)