A Critical Reflection on the Israeli Biometric Program

This article demonstrates the theoretical and empirical potential underlying surveillance studies in the local context by focusing on one of the most significant developments in the past few years in Israel: the Israeli biometric program. This program consists of two distinct initiatives: issuing biometric IDs and passports to Israeli citizens and establishing a national, mandatory biometric database. The article shows how three prominent theoretical ideas about surveillance – the informatization of the human body, the digitization of social sorting, and the violation of privacy rights – may be manifested in the Israeli program. It argues that the Israeli biometric program derives from the same rationale that inspired the national state of emergency that has been in force since the early days of the State of Israel. Both the biometric program and the state of emergency turn Israel into a surveillance society that is undergoing a shift in the liberal notion of citizenship.