Travellers exit the COVID 19 pandemic testing area at Ben Gurion International Airport, Israel, on November 28, 2021, as Israel imposes new restrictions near Tel Aviv, Israel. JERUSALEM, Dec 2 Reuters -- Israel's Supreme Court rejected a petition by rights groups that tried to repeal temporary measures that allowed the domestic intelligence agency to use mobile phone tracing to curb the spread of the new COVID- 19 variant.
Israeli officials say that the phone tracking measure, which is set to expire on Thursday but could be extended, will only be used to locate confirmed or suspected carriers of the new and potentially more contagious Omicron variant and stop its transmission.
Four rights groups cite privacy concerns in their petition on Monday, arguing that the Shin Bet intelligence agency's phone tracking, used on- and- off since March 2020, is in violation of prior court rulings limiting such surveillance.
The Supreme Court said that the Shin Bet authorization poses a disproportionate infringement on the right to privacy, and that it would justify its striking down because of the uncertainty surrounding the Omicron variant and its effects. The technology matches virus carriers' locations against other mobile phones nearby to determine their contacts. The court limited its scope of its use earlier this year after civil rights groups complained about privacy concerns when it was implemented on a wider scale.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced on Saturday that there was a phone tracing as part of a series of Omicron emergency measures, including banning foreigners from entering the country.
The phone tracing program was debated by lawmakers this week ahead of a vote on the measure in Parliament. One of the rights group petitioners, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, said the Supreme Court had given the government a number of days to enact such legislation.
We call for the government not to extend the emergency regulations and to desist from GSS Shin Bet tracking. Israel has confirmed at least two cases of the new variant and at least 17 others are suspected of having contracted it.