Opponents of Israeli Biometric Law: "It's a Step to a True Police State"

of the law, in response to criticism by many activist and citizens’ rights groups, who have decried what many call “the first step to a true police state.” In one limitation, the facial profile to be stored in the database will be low resolution, instead of the originally proposed hi-res image. The superior image will be used by officers at checkpoints in order to ensure the identity of an individual, but that image will be disposed of immediately.

In another limitation, the Interior Ministry will now have to erase identification from checkpoint computers immediately, as the data is transmitted to the database, which will be on secure servers using encryption technology.

MKs agreed, however, to allow police to have access to the data on the checkpoint computers before it gets erased. After protests by many in the room, Sheetrit promised to hold another discussion on this issue.

Also discussed was how to deal with an individual who is not carrying any identification. Police attorneys said they would need access to the database in such situations. Sheetrit proposed that police use “other reasonable methods” before such permission would be granted, but the attorneys said that defining such methods would be difficult and time consuming — and that innocent civilians would be forced to wait for hours while their identities were verified, unless police were granted access to the database in these instances.

During the stormy session last October when the law was passed on its first reading, Sheetrit told opponents that the database was necessary for a number of reasons; for example, he said, with the database in place, the United States would allow Israelis to enter the country without requiring a visa, like citizens of most European Union states.

In response, Dr. Michael Birnhack of Tel Aviv University said that, to the contrary, the United States was demanding the database only in relation to passports, not Israeli ID cards — and that none of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) states that Israel hopes to join next year have such databases, which in most western countries would be seen as a violation of civil liberties. “While some European countries do use biometrics for identification purposes, they do not store the information for use by police or other agencies, and even in the U.S, information is stored only on non-citizens.”

According to Israeli activist group No2Bio, Israel would be joining countries like Ethiopia, Indonesia, Yemen, and Pakistan, which have similar databases, if the law were to pass in its present form.

An activist in Judea and Samaria also decried the law, saying it would most likely be put to political use by police. “For example, imagine the situation where the young girls from Amona who refused to identify themselves are dragged into a police station when this law comes into effect, despite their wishes. They would very quickly be identified against their will, and police might even compare their photos in the database to footage of the protest to see who ‘interfered’ with their ‘work.’ Isn’t one of the principles of democracy the freedom to say - or not say - whatever one wants?”