Meretz leader calls on AG to stop gov’t from digital tracking of virus patients

The head of the left-wing Meretz says he has appealed to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to stop the government from using electronic surveillance to track Israelis sick with the coronavirus, as Prime Minister Netanyahu said authorities would do this evening.

On Twitter, MK Nitzan Horowitz writes that such surveillance shouldn’t take place without parliamentary and judicial oversight.

“Monitoring citizens with the help of information databases and advanced technology is a harsh blow to privacy and basic liberty. Therefore, this is forbidden in democratic countries,” he says.

Horowitz says that even in an emergency, such “intrusive measures” should not be used in a sweeping manner and need clear rules regarding how information is used.

“This measures are prohibited from being used before they’re approved and overseen by a Knesset committee,” he says.

He also calls for a Supreme Court justice to head any legal team that oversees the surveillance.