Shabak (Israel Security Agency) head Nadav Argaman responded to the government's decision to appoint his organization to use its advanced technological abilities in order to reduce the spread of coronavirus.
"Israel Security Agency has agreed to the request of the professional echelon in the Health Ministry, out of national responsibility and an understanding that we have the ability to help save the lives of the State of Israel's citizens. The request was received by Shabak, after it became clear that other organizations in the country do not have the necessary technological abilities, in order to aid this effort," Argaman said.
"Shabak is aware of the fact that this is an issue which is out of the usual realm of its activities in foiling terror, and therefore the request was discussed and approved by the Attorney General, and proper supervisory and control regulations were decided on for this process.
"As the head of the Israel Security Agency, I wish to make clear that the sensitivity of this matter is very clear to me, and therefore I ordered that only a very small group of people will deal with this issue, and that the information will not be stored in the Shabak information storage. In addition, the information will be handed directly to the Director-General of the Health Ministry, or to the Public Health Services head, who will make use of the information only in order to provide guidelines which have the purpose of saving human lives."
Argaman added that "as the head of the Israel Security Agency, I believe that in the situation described above, it is appropriate and proper that Shabak join the national efforts and not stand in opposition, and contribute its unique abilities to fighting the spread of the virus."