Watch NIF's event with Israeli civil rights leaders Mickey Gitzin, Director of NIF in Israel, Hassan Jabareen, founder and Director of Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, and Sharon Abraham-Weiss, Director of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. They were joined in conversation by NIF's VP for Public Engagement, Libby Lenkinski.

No matter what happens, government responses to this pandemic – in Israel, in the US and all over the world – must keep people safe, address the needs of all people, and uphold democratic norms.

That’s why leading Israeli activists are fighting to ensure that the crisis does not become an excuse for abandoning civil liberties and basic equality.

On 19 March, ACRI and Adalah petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court to stop the emergency regulations allowing the government to use cellphone data to track suspected and confirmed coronavirus patients.

This kind of surveillance is a serious violation of the right to privacy, especially when applied in such a sweeping manner.

Adalah and ACRI argued this point in court – and on Thursday evening, the Supreme Court issued an injunction limiting the state’s ability to surveil citizens through their cellphones.

These are the kinds of things that NIF grantees are doing every day as we all confront the coronavirus pandemic and its effects on our lives and our societies.

We know that this moment should not be used by any government to roll back civil liberties – and we’re proud that our partners are working around the clock to make sure that those principles are upheld during this time, and always.