Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Police Could Misuse Data From New Israeli Biometric Security System

When Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar launched the trial period for Israel’s biometric database on Sunday, he almost pleaded with the public not to be alarmed. “There is no reason to panic,” he said, promising that the system that was set up “met the highest standards of data security and privacy protection.”

No doubt the database has high-level security to reassure citizens, but that won’t protect individuals’ private information – such as their fingerprints and other identifying biological traits – from those permitted to enter the database. Based on the Israel Police’s experience with databases, assumptions can be made about what will happen without strong safeguards to prevent the misuse of the biometric information by those permitted access.

The Israel Police has its own database and relatively easy access to the country’s largest collections of personal information. The police can request information from government ministries, Internet companies, credit card companies and cellphone companies. In emergency situations, the police can even access databases without a court order.

According to police regulations, the use of databases is limited to a defined group of police officers and is meant for work purposes only. However, hundreds of police, mainly officers, have official approval to access databases that allow them to peer into our private lives.

Read more at Haaretz.com.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.