Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Aiming for US visa waiver, Knesset passes bill giving US access to fingerprint data

28 March 2023, 4:27 pm Edit

A police officer takes the fingerprint of a man during his registration at the temporary registration center for migrants and refugees of the southern German border town Passau, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Illustrative: A police officer takes the fingerprint of a man during his registration at the temporary registration center for migrants and refugees of the southern German border town Passau, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

The Knesset passes another key piece of legislation aimed at paving Israel’s way to joining the US Visa Waiver Program.

The legislation, which passes its second and third readings and now becomes law, allows the Israel Police to share identifying data about Israelis — including fingerprints — with relevant US security bodies.

The explanatory text of the legislation says that it is written in as narrow a way as possible “in order to minimize the harm to the privacy of Israeli citizens.”