Atty. Jonathan J. Klinger writes:
Last Thursday marked the final approval of the biometric database regulations and the biometric database order in Israel; the regulations and order were approved by a special Knesset panel participated solely by MK Meir Sheetrit (Kadima) and Abraham Michaeli (Shas), where Sheetrit was the initial entrepreneur of the Biometric Database in his position as minister of interior.
This marks the end of a process that began two years ago when The Knesset approved the biometric bill. The discussions prior to the approval were on who shall be granted access to the citizen’s biometric database (but not to whether it’s really needed). According to the biometric law, any citizen or resident that joins the database will have to provide the ministry of interior his fingerprints and a photograph of his face which will be stored in a central database which may be accessible to the ministry of interior, the police and other security services.
Read more on +972. The writer does not appear to object to Israel’s identity card system but only to the use of this biometric database which he argues is not necessary and increases the risk of identity theft.