"Prohibited actions have been committed in the field of wiretapping"

20.01.26

The State Comptroller and Ombudsman, Matanyahu Englman, is publishing a special report in the matter of the police's use of technological tools for wiretapping and the use of communications data (20.1.2026). 

Within the framework of the report, the activity of the police, the Attorney General's Office and the State Attorney's Office was examined, as well as the interface between them. The report encompasses the entire process – regulation in legislation, legal approval for the use of the tools, submitting requests, performing installations, obtaining information from the tools and using it, and supervision and control over these proceedings. 

The main matters where gaps were found are:

  1. Lack of appropriate legislative and legal regulation: This regulation is necessary for the police's use of technological tools in the field of wiretapping and the use of communications data. Failure to regulate has adversely affected the police's ability to use the technological tools for the fight against serious crime – and on the other hand, they were used in a way that violates privacy without any regulation in primary legislation.
  2.  Work practices that raise difficulties in the police: The audit found practices that were contrary to the proper process and orderly procedures, leading to the commission of prohibited acts, from the stage of submitting the request for warrants up to the use of the communications data or the outputs of the wiretapping. Without proper legislative and legal regulation, it transpired in retrospect that prohibited installations were performed, prohibited data was collected, and prohibited outputs were produced and used.
  3. The work interfaces between the Israel Police and the Ministry of Justice: The legal support provided by the Attorney General's Office at the Ministry of Justice and the State Attorney's Office to the police was found to be lacking. The police had not sent the Ministry of Justice sufficient information, and on the other hand, the Attorney General's Office and the State Attorney's Office had not acted to receive all the information about the capabilities of the technological tools.
  4.  Professional weakness in the field of technology and law among the parties of the Attorney General's Office, the State Attorney's Office and the police's legal counsel. 

The police officers of the Israel Police are at the forefront of the war against crime and do their job with great dedication, as do the attorneys and legal advisors at the Ministry of Justice entrusted with enforcing the law.

The police is the main agency for law enforcement and safeguarding the security of the citizens of the State of Israel, and it is perpetually involved in the fight against criminals and terrorists that endanger public wellbeing and state security and abuse technological progress. Therefore, it is important to reinforce the police by using the technological tools it requires in the war against organized crime and nationalistic crime together with proper legislative regulation and with appropriate supervision and control.

The State Comptroller recommended promoting the necessary amendments to the legislation, developing improved control mechanisms, clarifying procedures and work procedures and reinforcing inter-organizational transparency. The Comptroller determined that the Minister of Justice, the Minister of National Security, the Attorney General, the State Attorney, the Israel Police Commissioner and the police's Head of the Investigations and Intelligence Division must ensure that all the defects are rectified. Rectification of the defects will increase public trust in the law enforcement agencies, lead to systemic and professional improvement in the use of technological tools, assist the law enforcement agencies in the fight against serious crime and reinforce the democratic foundations forming the basis of their powers. 

"The defects in the report are fundamental and significant", said Comptroller Englman. "They require systemic rectification by the law enforcement agencies. The audit revealed the performance of prohibited actions by the police in the field of wiretapping and the use of technological tools. This arises, among other things, from actions without sufficient regulation in legislation, without appropriate legal approvals and without following orderly procedures. The Attorney General's Office, for its part, was not an active partner in the examination of the use of technological tools processes, and did not initiate a principled and comprehensive debate in these matters". 

The State Comptroller emphasized that "The aim of the report is to lead to systemic rectification, strengthen the state institutions and reinforce the public's trust in them, and not to serve as a tool for attacking one official or another".

The Comptroller noted that "We examined in the report tools and work methods that have not been examined in the past, including an examination of the use of communications data. Furthermore, for the first time we conducted a comprehensive analysis of the entire process – legal approval for the use of the tools, submitting requests to the courts, performing installations, obtaining the information from the tools and using it, and supervision and control over these processes". 

"The challenge is to balance between the fight against crime and an infringement of the right to privacy. If we do not know how to balance these, there will be extreme implications: Either the enforcement system will operate in an unbridled manner, thus adversely affecting democratic values – or crime will intensify and get out of control".

"The importance of the State Audit and its activity is derived from the Basic Law: The State Comptroller, which grants it autonomy and absolute independence in the executive authority. This autonomy is essential for ensuring that the audit is conducted fearlessly and without undue influence, and that the State Comptroller will be accountable to the Knesset and the public".