Behind the Headlines a New Wire-tapping Bill

The Ministry of Justice has recently prepared new legislation on wire-tapping, aiming to fill the legal lacuna which exists on this sensitive issue. Until now, Israel has had no specific law on wire-tapping and the official explanation to the new bill is that it is designed to protect the individual from encroachments upon his privacy and at the same time to enact an official procedure for wiretapping when it is needed in the interests of national security.

The bill lays down a term of three-years imprisonment for illegal wire-tapping. it also designates two categories of permissible tapping: the first, for security reasons, the second, for preventing or investigating crimes. Under the new bill, the Premier would be the sole authority empowered to permit a wire-tap for security purposes. The Premier’s permission would have to be given in writing and would specify the identity of the person to be investigated and the means to be used to tap his wire.

The Premier could exercise this authority only if he were convinced that the security of the State justified such a step. The permission given by the Prime Minister would be for a strictly limited period never to exceed six months. The security agencies entitled to seek the Premier’s consent for a wire-tap are the Chief of Army Intelligence, the Chief of National Intelligence (the Mossad– which acts mostly abroad), the Chief of the General Security Service (Shin-Bet –dealing with counter-espionage and with internal security matters), and the Chief Military Censor.

If any of these agencies are convinced that the security of the State requires an urgent wire-tap, they are authorized, under the new bill to implement it for a period of not more than 48 hours and inform the Premier, who has the right to cancel this step.

Authority to permit a wire-tap aimed at prevention or investigation of crimes is vested in the president of the local district court. The permit issued by this senior judge could specify the identity of the person to be tapped and the means of tapping. In urgent cases, the Police Minister can issue a temporary permit for a short time.

RESERVATIONS AND COUNTER-PROPOSALS

The bill has met with criticism among several Cabinet Ministers and commentators. Some argued that the Military Censor and the Chief of the Mossad should be omitted from the list of agencies entitled to initiate a wire-tap. Inclusion of the censor, it was felt, might violate the principle of freedom of the press.

Other reservations and counter-proposals expressed over the bill are: a Supreme Court justice–not the Premier–should be the authority to grant permission for a wire-tap where security reasons require it; in any case, the permit should not be in force for longer than one month; administrative regulations stemming from the wire-tap law should need to be endorsed by the Knesset Foreign and Security Affairs Committee; and the Minister charged with implementing these parts of the law that concern crime prevention or detection should be the Minister of Justice and not the Police Minister, as proposed.

In addition, the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee should be informed of the applications of the various intelligence agencies for wire-tap permits; otherwise there will be no public or parliamentary control of these agencies in this delicate field; Cabinet Ministers and the Knesseters are not immune under the bill from a wire-tap, because critics say, this might lead to political espionage; the bill does not provide for what is to be done with the tapes on which the information procured by legal wire-taps is recorded; and the bill makes no provision for appeal to the courts when one feels that a legally permitted wire-tap has violated one’s civil rights.

This is not the first time that the Israeli government has proposed a wire-tap law. In 1962, the then Justice Minister Dov Joseph drafted a bill but shelved it because of sharp criticism. Again, in 1966 Justice Minister Yaacov Shimshon Shapiro asked the Knesset to revive Joseph’s bill but his initiative also petered out. More recently two Knesseters presented private bills concerning the wire-tap problem but the coalition voted them off the Knesset agenda.