High Court: Shin Bet surveillance frozen if no Knesset oversight by Tuesday

The High Court also said that if by Tuesday the government had declared a complete lockdown on the country that the issue could be revisited.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
A man wears a face mask for fear of the coronavirus as he takes the train to Haifa, on March 17, 2020 (photo credit: YOSSI ALONI/FLASH90)
A man wears a face mask for fear of the coronavirus as he takes the train to Haifa, on March 17, 2020
(photo credit: YOSSI ALONI/FLASH90)
Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) surveillance of citizens infected with coronavirus will be frozen on Tuesday if there is no Knesset oversight by that time, the High Court of Justice ruled Thursday night.
If the government declares a complete lockdown on the country by Tuesday, the issue could be revisited, the High Court said.
Restrictions placed on the Shin Bet by Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit, such as merely transferring collected data to the Health Ministry and not holding on to the data, were now binding by court order, the High Court said.
By issuing a Tuesday deadline, the court appears to be hoping that the issue will be resolved by the Monday deadline set by the Likud and Blue and White to reach understandings regarding the Knesset or a national-unity government.
Attorney Shahar Ben-Meir, in conjunction with the Movement for Digital Rights, filed the first petition earlier, demanding the court freeze Shin Bet surveillance until the Knesset signs off.
Later, the Joint List Party, Adalah and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel filed parallel petitions.
The petitioners said the basis for any Shin Bet involvement should be the Shin Bet Law, which includes significant civil-liberties protections, and not an emergency order, which contains fewer protections.
There has been controversy about whether a transitional government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should have the authority to activate the Shin Bet to perform surveillance of infected citizens prior to the Knesset giving approval.
There are accusations that the executive branch is usurping powers and exploiting the crisis to silence the Knesset and the courts, especially since earlier this week acting Justice Minister Amir Ohana issued an order that postponed Netanyahu’s public corruption trial from this past Tuesday until May 24.