Israel halts controversial tech to track omicron variant

By ILAN BEN ZION
Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel says it’s halting the use of a controversial phone tracking technology to trace possible cases of the new coronavirus variant. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office said Thursday that emergency measures authorizing “cellular monitoring” to locate people infected by the omicron variant, and those who might have been in contact with those cases, expires at midnight. The decision to reverse course on the Shin Bet internal security agency’s tracking came after the Cabinet approved the practice under an emergency measure on Tuesday. A government ombudsman had spoken out against implementing the technology, arguing that it was ineffective.