זמן חירום: פרטיות במלחמה

Defining a situation as a crisis and an emergency creates urgency that is then utilized to suspend human rights for the duration of the crisis. Consider a pandemic or a war, for example. The irregularity justifies separating the present from the past and from the future, with a promise that this is a temporary situation, and that with the return to routine, human rights will be reinstated. Privacy is a fundamental human right, that enjoys an explicit constitutional status in Israeli law. Privacy protects us from others, from corporations, and from the state, by drawing the line that the state should not pass, unless it is explicitly authorized to do so, for a legitimate cause, and acts in a proportional manner. The war situation highlights the existence of liminal, grey areas, situated between the private and the public spheres. This comment examines the violation of privacy during the War, inter alia, by politicians taking phots on the background of destroyed houses, by the media invading hotel lobbies were dislocated people reside, by invasive photography of the reuniting of abductees who were freed and their families, and in the ‘Horror Movie’. I argue that privacy should be maintained, especially during emergencies.