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A bill that would allow the Israel Police to transfer identifying information such as fingerprints to entities recognized in the United States was approved today (Tuesday) in a first reading in the Knesset plenum.
The bill is intended to allow Israel to enter the exemption program for entry into the US. Nine members of the Knesset supported the proposal without opposition and it will be forwarded to the Constitutional Committee for preparation for the first reading.
According to the proposal, the authorities of the State of Israel will be allowed to use information received from a foreign body recognized in the US, by way of comparison between fingerprint data and data found in the authorities' database.
The information will be received in accordance with the arrangements defined in the proposal (the PCSC agreement and the EBSA memorandum according to the proposed mechanism, which will allow a comparison to be made using a computerized system for police database data).
In addition, it is proposed to authorize the Israel Police to transfer to a recognized foreign body, which will request the identification details of a person received regarding the fingerprint data associated with him, this in accordance with the fulfillment of specific conditions defined in the proposed arrangement.
Finally, it is proposed to impose on the Minister of National Security an obligation to report numerical data entered by virtue of this law.
The proposal was passed by a majority of nine MKs with no opposition. The Knesset plenary session in December (photo: Knesset spokeswoman, Noam Moshkowitz)
For several years now, the State of Israel has been working to join the visa exemption program of the United States government, which allows entry into the United States without the issuance of a visa.
According to federal law in the United States, one of the conditions for a country to join the program is signing an arrangement to increase the sharing of information between the joining country and the United States on issues of threats to security and public welfare in the United States.
This condition is added to a series of additional requirements that the United States imposes on countries seeking to join the waiver program.
In order to fulfill this condition, the Israeli government was required to sign with the United States government an agreement to increase cooperation in the fight against serious crime and terrorism, as well as a memorandum regarding cooperation on strengthening and maintaining border security.
For several years, the Israeli government has been negotiating with the United States government to conclude the mentioned arrangements.
As detailed in each of the arrangements or in the documents accompanying them, the application of the EBSA memorandum will begin or the PCSC agreement will enter into force, only after each party has notified the other party that the internal steps required for this have been completed.
In the meantime, the United States will notify Israel that Israel has completed the fulfillment of the other requirements for joining the certification exemption program, including the required legislative amendments.
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The police will be authorized to transfer to the US identification information of citizens such as fingerprints. Fingerprints (Photo: ShutterStock)
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The arrangements establish an orderly mechanism for the exchange of information between the parties based on queries and comparison of biometric fingerprints held by the party to the arrangements against state databases of the other party, and delivery of information from these databases under various conditions and limitations established in the arrangements.
In the explanation of the proposal it is written that "in order to enable the implementation of the arrangements and thereby the manner of providing information in accordance with the provisions of these arrangements, it is proposed to amend the law and to anchor in it a dedicated mechanism for the exchange of information in accordance with the arrangements, as well as to make a specific amendment to the Criminal Information Law and the Return Regulation. The arrangement proposed in this bill Formulated in a targeted manner, in order to reduce as much as possible the harm to the privacy of Israeli citizens, while explicitly stating that the deviation from the limitations currently set in the law will be allowed for the purpose of implementing the arrangements."
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