'and the citizens of Israel to be calm and know that they are being watched over (and protected from) every enemy and foe' We pay 100 shekels if we walk through 'red-light'. Now we have to pay every time 100 shekels when we say a wrong word over the phone or write on the computer? So we stay 'calm'. In the 'only democracy of the ME'. Ariel

This is not a joke. This is a threat to quality of life in Israel that is bound to aversely affect decisions of potential immigrants and returning residents. The true criminals will find a more sophisticated way to avoid detection, while rank and file Israelis here and abroad will be the true victims. The police have got to find another way to enforce the law!

the FSU, USA, Eastern Europe, parts of Asia, and who knows where else? At least the Israeli government is being open about it, and wasn't just "caught." IMHO, the real question is, will they use the information they find? Or will they do what the US does, and let well-known threats to society continue to circulate unimpeded (i.e. abusive nurses, fraudulent CPAs, etc.)?

Quoting Mr Menachem Ben-Sassoon, " ...the citizens of Israel to be calm, and know that they are being watched over (and protected from) every enemy & foe." Who will protect us from Olmert, Livni, Barak, Dichter, & other members of this really awful gov't.? There is nothing wrong in giving the police the powers necessary to combat mob criminals, drug dealers, terrorists, & other wrong-doers but it should be with no exceptions, there are no "sensitive" occupations & particularly, the law should apply to Knesset members themselves. But you can't help laughing at Mr Ben-Sassoon's words - I mean, the greatest danger to Israel is the gov't. itself. Maybe Mr. Ben-Sassoon does not realize the black humour in his words -

This is another step in the slippery slope of bolshevik-fascist degeneration of the system. Another demonstration that Benjamin Franklin was right: what matters is FREEDOM, not democracy. "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" -Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790) U.S. Founding Father. Signatory of the Declaration of Independence and of the U.S. Constitution

oh whoops... they are...

Keep it up. We need people like you in the government.

I am surprised to find myself agreeing about anything with Gal-On, but she's right about this - an abuse of citizens, while the crooked cops and bad guys go free!

probably i am the only citizen in israel without a cellphone believe me its so much better

NO PRIVILEGES UNDER DEMOCRACY.I POINT TO THE KACH MOVEMENT LED BY RABBI KAHN,A MOVEMENT THAT WAS MADE ILLEGAL.SIMILARLY RESERVATIONS MUST EXTEND TO ALL RELIGIOUS BASED GROUPS.AS SIMILAR TO KACH (WHOSE AIMS I THINK HAVE BEEN MISINTERPRETED AS BEING RACIST) THERE ARE MUSLIM CLERGY NO DOUBT WHO WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE DEMISE OF THE ISRAELI STATE.AS FOR DOCTORS ,THERE IS ALWAYS THE CHANCE FOR A DR.JECKYL TO BE DISCOVERED...ETC,ETC....AN UNCLEAR LAW,AND A WASTE OF TIME, AS BORDERS HAVE NOT BEEN CLEARLY DEFINED,AND,.. IN FACT SHOULD BE ELIMINATED.

not doing this all along, as if the comfort people with the uncertain knowledge that maybe they were not being spied upon previously. My adopted father worked for G2 in the US Army before retiring in 1963, which is Army Intelligence. (That is not an oxymoron.) 44 years ago, my father had a radio playing next to the only phone in the house because EVEN THEN the government could listen to phone conversations without authority to do so and could ALSO listen to conversations within ear shot of the phone in the room with the phone ON THE HOOK. Magazine articles available to the public have clearly established that ALL Internet emails are monitored and there are magic lanterns on computers for the government to come in the back door to monitor personal computers and business computer systems with or without warrants. Recentlly, there was a YNET article in which a court ordered a computer server company to release the name and email ID of a person who said something anonymously. If that can be done, there is no privacy and never has been. SO WHY PRETEND THERE IS OR WAS ANY PRIVACY. Reality is that whoever the govenment wants to target, they will. If facts don't do, then the frame machines will be turned on and the false witnesses will fabricate whatever is needed to hang anybody for anything.