While the state is noisy and more than once there is a call to set up a commission of inquiry into wiretapping, it turns out that there has already been one.
Already 15 years ago, a parliamentary inquiry committee was set up to investigate wiretapping, which examined the issue for two years and recommended further examination of various issues.
But the summary of the committee's deliberations that ended in 2009, which spans 34 pages, has been left behind, with legislative amendments that could have prevented the current Pegasus affair.
The Israel Today investigation shows that after an investigation that lasted about two years, among other things, the committee recommended further examination of various issues, including the thickening of the supervisory system within the police, including the introduction of control stages in the internal police process. To the court at various intersections of the procedure, as well as various requirements aimed at reducing the number of judges engaged in the craft and charging them with special training in this matter.
The committee was chaired by MK Menachem Ben-Sasson of the Kadima faction, who chaired the 17th Knesset Constitution Committee, and the members of the inquiry committee were in fact members of the Constitution Committee.
Thus, during his tenure in the Knesset, Ben Sasson chaired the parliamentary inquiry committee to examine the issue of wiretapping in Israel, which was established following wiretapping in the Ramon case.
In summarizing the discussions, Ben-Sasson criticized the reactions of government officials who refused to set up a committee to investigate wiretapping, compared to the Knesset, which responded in the affirmative.
He wrote that "two years ago I asked to set up a committee to investigate the matter of wiretapping and how to carry it out. The reactions of government officials were rigid in their refusal, and did not respond to the request. The decision to establish an investigation team conceals such and other political considerations. "
The committee began its activities on February 28, 2007, with the background of the discussions set out in the permanent arrangements in the Wiretapping Law, 1979, which generally prohibits wiretapping and the use of knowledge or software of a conversation obtained by wiretapping.
The officials who appeared before the committee itself include the Ministry of Justice, the State Attorney's Office, the Ministry of Internal Security, the Israel Police, the administration of the courts, the Public Defender's Office, the Bar Association, as well as various members of the academy and other government ministries.
"Conclusions dissolved"
Sources in the political system who are familiar with the committee's work told Israel Today that "while there are calls for the establishment of a commission of inquiry, it is appropriate to inform those concerned and the citizens of Israel that such a committee existed years ago, another vision for the date, and gave its conclusions. "The shocking Pegasus affair that struck with such intensity shows that the Israel Police did not learn or internalize anything from the committee's conclusions."
Another source added: "The conclusions of the committee that will be set up were written as early as 2009, but the police preferred to ignore and act independently without supervision. There were recommendations for legislative amendments, but there were those who preferred to work in the dark."
He said, "A committee has been set up, conclusions have been submitted, and the police have beeped. This fact leads to an obligation to raise the level of the committee to a state commission of inquiry headed by a judge. Conclusions submitted by a committee set up by a political entity will be dissolved like these."
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