The Joint List and the human rights NGO Adalah appealed to the Supreme Court on Wednesday requesting it step in to stop the electronic surveillance employed by the state to monitor Israeli citizens with the expressed purpose of preventing COVID-19 from spreading across the nation.
In their appeal, they state that the Knesset did not declare the novel coronavirus outbreak a state of national emergency and due to that, the administration of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not have the right to oversee electronic communication of citizens by using the Shin Bet.
The step had been met with much concern by human rights NGOs, reporters and even Transportation Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said on Tuesday evening that he was against it at first due to the slippery slope it may lead to.
He eventually agreed to support the measure having come to the conclusion the country is facing an unknown level of risk from COVID-19.