Israel’s Shin Bet has reportedly suspended its monitoring of coronavirus carriers as of June 9. One day earlier, the cabinet put on hold a proposal to legalize the tapping of phones of infected citizens.

When the coronavirus crisis broke out last March, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the Shin Bet to assist the Health Ministry by surveilling the phones of those infected, ostensibly to notify citizens that were in contact with infected people that they need to be tested for the virus. But Netanyahu’s initiative sparked controversy, with human rights groups arguing it infringed on privacy rights. The High Court ruled against the continued surveillance without a law in place. Faced with growing objections, the government produced a bill that would offer the Shin Bet a clear legal framework in which to operate.

Now it seems that Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman was never enthusiastic about the agency engaging in this task. It was apparently Argaman’s reluctance that tipped the scale on June 8, leading the cabinet to back off from adopting the bill. Argaman said at the meeting that the Shin Bet did not feel comfortable using wiretapping to track coronavirus carriers.

Confronted with Argaman’s opinion, the cabinet decided to suspend the bill for the moment. It will now undergo further work for review by the ministerial committee. This way, the more refined bill could later be pushed through the Knesset in a matter of weeks or even days if needed. The longer preparation of the bill will also enable the Shin Bet to prepare for the possibility of its passage.