Israeli Committee Extends Controversial Coronavirus Surveillance Program

An Israeli parliamentary committee has extended a controversial surveillance program that tracks coronavirus carriers and those who may have come in contact with infected individuals. The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee approved the ongoing use of digital phone-tracking technologies by the Shin Bet security agency until Tuesday at midnight, which gives the government time to determine if it wants to advance legislation to formalize the program. This became necessary after the Supreme Court earlier this week conditioned the continuation of initiative on the passage of a law to ensure broad parliamentary oversight. It comes as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Israel surpassed 16,000, although the rate of diagnoses has dropped dramatically over the past week even as the government has moved to ease restrictions on movement and re-open most sectors of the economy.