The Interior Ministry is now waiting for the Knesset to approve legislation that will permit moving ahead towards a smart identification card to replace the sorely outdated laminated photo ID in use today, a card that is easily forged.

The ministry has awarded the contract to Hewlett-Packard, which will move Israeli into the 21st century, utilizing biometric technology for ID cards and passports. This is one of the demands made on Israel by the United States before it is willing to entertain placing Israel on the list of nations whose citizens may visit without first obtaining a visa.

Israel has made repeated requests to be added to the prestigious list but has been told that until it changes over to biometric passports, the State Department will not even weight the request.

The biometric database bill passed its first reading in Knesset in October and the lawmakers will have to vote it into law before the new cards may become reality. According to Minister of the Interior Meir Sheetrit, there are an estimated 350,000 forged identity cards in use.

The project was intended to get underway about a decade ago, but there were petitions to the Supreme Court challenging the legitimacy of the tender awarded to HP. That and other circumstance condemned the project which has lagged since then.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)