Some reactions of Israel to the COVID-19 pandemic

By Engr. Edgar Mana-ay

Israel is best known for its IRON DOME Missile Defense System, where a missile strike even from nearby Gaza Strip or from far away sources such as Iran or Syria, can be detected in real time and effectively intercepted.

The man behind this, a former IDF (Israel Defense Force) senior officer, Danny Gold is now the COVID-19 test king of Israel. From missile shield expertise to rapid and country sweeping COVID tests, how can he make it possible? Danny Gold is now working to facilitate 100,000 coronavirus tests a day across Israel by using a NEW EXPRESS KIT. It has four teams working on a 60-second test for detecting coronavirus. With this truly rapid but accurate test (unlike our rapid but not reliable test), Brigadier General (Reserve) Danny Gold, who also heads the Israel’s Defense Research and Development Directorate (DRDD), is targeting 100,000 test per day which is a world game changer.

Ben Gurion University in Israel also announced that its researchers are working to check the viability of the One-Minute Test in conjunction with the several Israeli teams working under the DRDD. Currently, only about 2,000 Israelis are infected with coronavirus but health officials fear a second wave of infections and BELIEVED THAT TESTING WILL BE THE KEY TO KEEPING IT IN CHECK. This very rapid, accurate, and novel method of detecting the virus from the sample swab test is the use of a still proprietary method of radiation, electronics, and chemical means and NOT biological means that are common today. This worldwide common method involves a nasopharyngeal swab from a patient, and having the ribonucleic acid (RNA) extracted, cultured, and analyzed which will take a minimum of two days to have the result.

Danny Gold said that the push to invent a new and fast corona virus test also involves the deployment of DRDD experts, although Gold did not provide details. It has entered unchartered territory at the start of the Covid 19 pandemic, deploying 100 staff to find ways of helping the medical profession. These include visiting hospitals and re-purposing defense technology to help doctors. Gold also spoke of technology “that can sense what is going on in Israel” to warn of possible future spikes in corona virus cases using big data and help inform decisions on lock downs. The system will provide a heat map where the corona virus is going to spread, when it’s going to spread, in what geographic location, and at what time. It can even be cut by ages, and other demographic parameters and therefore planners will know where to close, who to release and what to do!

We all know that tracking is a very important component to stop the spread of COVID-19 which we do in the Philippines by word of mouth. In Israel they are using digital tracking of corona virus patients done by the SHIN BET SECURITY SERVICE and the POLICE. While the Mossad is responsible for Israel’s security abroad, Shin Bet is its counterpart for local intelligence. Shin Bet main functions are safeguarding state security, exposing terrorist rings, interrogating terror suspects and providing intelligence for counter-terrorism operations in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Shin Bet has been using phone tracking technology of potential COVID-19 patients usually employed in tracking of terrorists. Human memory limitations are what makes the Shin Bet’s tracking useful since a person cannot remember or even be aware of everyone who came in contact with him during the previous 2 weeks until the patient was diagnosed , while the telephone can.

With government approval, Shin Bet gathers cell phone location data and additional personal information about those diagnosed with the corona virus or suspected of having been infected. Its purpose is to warn potential victims and to enforce quarantine order. WHO CAN BE TRACKED? In Israel anyone who has been diagnosed with the virus or who is suspected of being ill, even if no lab confirmation has yet been received, must remain in quarantine. Even someone who was in close contact with a patient or person under quarantine in the 14 days before diagnosis – 14 days being the incubation period of the virus, can be monitored. The data is designed to warn anyone who came into contact with those people, by means of text messages, and to monitor anyone sent to quarantine. The Police will be able to collect the data on the location of the person under surveillance and to send it to the Health Ministry.

For the purpose of enforcing the quarantines, the data on an individual location will be collected as sample, which is not prolonged or consecutive. This refers to the person’s last location. The Shin Bet will be able to access all info from the cell phone, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE CONTENT OF THE CONVERSATION AND MESSAGES, WHICH REQUIRES A SPECIFIC COURT ORDER. In Israel, the law already allows law enforcement authorities to receive the location of the cell phone by requesting it from the cell phone company. The data is not precise but makes it possible to get a radius dozens or hundreds of meters, by means of the antenna that receive the signal from the device. The signals that are collected are cellular, rather than being connected to the GPS component of the smart phones and are used for apps based on location. Therefore, turning off the device or the location app won’t help to remove the tracking – the only way to avoid cellular surveillance is NOT to bring your cell phone when moving around.

The Health Ministry of Israel may make an initial request to the Police or Shin Bet, depending on the info it needs. The Police will be in-charge of the location data and the enforcement of the quarantine and Shin Bet will be in-charge of tracking down the “contagion route” of those who are ill. In other words, they will access the location not only of those who are infected, but of those infected people have met with as well. Electronic tracking is NOT as effective as deployment of manpower because Shin Bet records shows only a 24% tracking and discovering out of the approximately 16,000 COVID-19 suspects in Israel as opposed to 28% tracking by epidemiological investigations by hired hands.

DU30 should further strengthen our cultural and scientific ties with Israel because we can greatly benefit from such relationships which we cannot get from bully China because we will always be bullied and unfairly treated. Even the Chinese sniper rifles used in Marawi were not as effective had we used Israeli sniper rifles.