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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was supposed to be facing trial this week on bribery, fraud and breach of trust charges. Instead, he was shutting down the courts and ordering Israel’'s internal security service to identify people who should be quarantined using data harvested from their phones.

Both of those extraordinary moves, announced in the dead of night Sunday and Tuesday, were made in the name of combating the coronavirus. The court shutdown also had the effect of delaying Netanyahu’'s corruption trial by two months.

Many Israelis have expressed admiration for the celerity and aggressiveness of Netanyahu'’s response to the pandemic: Israel was ahead of the curve in shutting down travel to hot spots, ordering new arrivals into quarantine and closing down the public schools.

But others are asking whether Netanyahu, who is battling to keep his job after three inconclusive elections, is exploiting the health crisis for self-serving ends. And whether, as he moves to protect the nation'’s health, he may also be endangering its democracy;

Netanyahu insisted he was protecting the nation while adhering to democratic values, noting that the court shutdown was temporary and that he had received the permission of the attorney general for the cellphone data usage, which was valid for 14 days.

"“Israel is a democracy",” he said Monday. "“We have to maintain the balance between the rights of the individual and needs of general society, and we are doing that.”"

But critics questioned whether closing the courts was a necessary response to the coronavirus and if the infringements on privacy by monitoring cellphones could have long-term consequences.

“"Democracies don'’t die in one day",” said Susie Navot, a professor of parliamentary and constitutional law at the Striks School of Law, in Rishon Letzion, Israel, "“As you see in Europe, they can decline or erode, bit by bit, and you don’t really feel it.”"

"“It'’s like a smoke bomb",” she said. "“You don’'t see very clearly, and then things change quickly, without you taking notice.”"

All over, democratic nations are struggling to act quickly enough to contend with the fast-moving biological threat. Israel is blessed with some important advantages over places that have responded more haltingly.

Its people have a history of improvising, rallying and uniting in times of crisis, and are used to defending against threats that hit close to home. The government enjoys expansive emergency powers, dating to the British Mandate, that allow it to do pretty much anything it deems necessary.

Its Internal Security Agency possesses a huge database. The New York Times reported Monday, of records from cellphone companies, dating to 2002, allowing almost any individual’'s footsteps to be retraced. And the agency, known by its Hebrew acronym as the Shin Bet, enjoys the confidence of the public that it will act in the best interests of the people and of democracy.

That sets Israel apart from countries whose secret police have dark histories as agents of repression, and even from the United States, where Edward Snowden’'s revelations that the government was collecting Americans’ bulk cellphone data led to the practice being outlawed.

What advantage does Israel enjoy for combating coronavirus according to the passage?

A) The historical legacy of uniting in times of crisis

B) Extensive emergency powers

C) Both (a) and (b)

D) Technological superiority