‘Israeli’ Spy Agency Tracked Journalists Using Cell Phone Data

By Staff, Agencies

The Zionist entity’s Shin Bet spying service has been using a database collected from cellphone companies to monitor the activity of journalists, as well as in the investigation of crimes, and not just in security-related investigations, the response to a petition filed by a civil rights group with the High Court revealed.

Using this database, the Shin Bet can determine where a journalist was based on their cellphone location, as well as whom they talked to and for how long.

In the petition, Association of Civil Rights in ‘Israel’ [ACRI] asked the court to remove a clause from the ‘law’ regulating Shin Bet operations – one that compels cellphone companies in the occupied territories to provide the agency with information regarding every call or message going through those companies.

ACRI also maintains that there is no mechanism for protecting people with professional immunity such as journalists, and that the decisions of the Shin Bet chief and the prime minister are not subject to juridical oversight, with insufficient mechanisms for monitoring.

The Shin Bet did not respond to a request for comment.