Written by: Haim Ravia, Dotan Hammer
Israel’s State Comptroller has released a sweeping special report exposing significant gaps and weaknesses in how the Israel Police uses technological surveillance tools, including wiretapping devices and communications data collection.
The report examines the police’s dramatically expanded technological capabilities over the past decade for gathering information through wiretapping and extracting communications data. The tools include audio interception devices, systems for capturing data transmitted between computers, and equipment installed on end-user devices that can access stored and real-time information without the knowledge of surveillance targets.
The Comptroller’s investigation uncovered four major systemic problems.
Lack of Legal Framework: Police used surveillance tools and conducted wiretapping operations without adequate legal authorization under primary legislation. This led to both the use of highly privacy-invasive tools without proper statutory authority and the limiting of police capabilities to effectively fight crime.
Problematic Work Practices: Police adopted workarounds that bypassed proper procedures, resulting in prohibited installations, unauthorized information collection, and improper use of surveillance products at every stage from application submission through data utilization.
Coordination Failures: Insufficient information sharing between the police and the Ministry of Justice, combined with the Ministry’s failure to proactively obtain complete information about technological tool capabilities.
Professional Weakness: A shortage of personnel with the necessary technological expertise among the Attorney General’s office, State Prosecution, and police legal advisors.
The Comptroller emphasized that the report focuses on systemic patterns requiring correction rather than specific criminal investigations or individual accountability. Both the police and the Ministry of Justice have begun corrective measures, but the report calls for coordinated government action, including legislative amendments, improved oversight mechanisms, and enhanced inter-organizational transparency.
Click here to read the Israeli State Comptroller’s Special Report on the Use of Technology Tools for Law Enforcement – Wiretaps and Telecom Metadata (in Hebrew).
