[News] How Israel turned Palestine into a surveillance tech dystopia

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeasteye.net
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-palestine-surveillance-tech-dystopia>
How
Israel turned Palestine into a surveillance tech dystopia
Nadim Nashif - December 10, 2021
------------------------------

Whether in the occupied West Bank, Gaza
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/gaza2020> or Israel
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel>, Palestinians live under a
cloud of constant Israeli surveillance. Recent revelations have included
the Israeli army’s deployment of Blue Wolf facial recognition technology
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-whats-blue-wolf-app-soldiers-use-photograph-palestinians>,
which reportedly saw Israeli soldiers incentivised with prizes for taking
the most photos of Palestinian civilians, and the installation of NSO
Group’s Pegasus spyware
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-spyware-pegasus-used-hack-palestinian-rights-activists-phones>
on the phones of Palestinian human rights workers.

While these revelations might have shocked the international community,
Palestinians have long known that Israel uses the occupied territories as a
laboratory for testing invasive surveillance technologies. This allows
Israeli firms to market their technologies as “field tested” when they are
exported
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/how-hand-israeli-tech-reaches-deep-our-lives>
around the world.

In addition to violating Palestinians' human rights, Israeli surveillance
... has far-reaching consequences for the international community

In addition to violating Palestinians’ human rights, Israeli surveillance
of Palestinian communities has far-reaching consequences for the
international community. The lack of accountability, transparency and
regulation on the sale and provision of surveillance tools threatens
marginalised communities, human rights defenders, academics and journalists
worldwide. As like-minded governments look to Israel as a blueprint for
surveilling their own citizens, the international community can no longer
afford to stand by as the right to privacy is eroded.

Indeed, Israeli surveillance systems have become central to controlling the
everyday lives of Palestinians. Since its 1967 occupation
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/tags/1967>, Israel has gradually tightened
its control over the information and communications technology sector in
the West Bank and Gaza, in defiance of the Oslo Accords
<https://7amleh.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Report_7amleh_English_final.pdf>,
which required Israel to gradually transfer control to Palestinians.

This has resulted in severe violations of Palestinian digital rights,
including a tiered system of accessibility in which Israelis enjoy access
to 5G, while Palestinians in the occupied West Bank only have access to 3G,
and 2G in Gaza
<https://7amleh.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Report_7amleh_English_final.pdf>
.
'Pressure points'

Israel simultaneously stifles technological advancement for Palestinian
communities, while controlling the infrastructure that undergirds the
surveillance state. An Israeli military whistleblower recently revealed
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-can-monitor-every-telephone-call-west-bank-and-gaza-intelligence-source>
that Israeli authorities have the ability to listen in on any phone
conversation in the occupied West Bank and Gaza - and not only that, any
mobile device imported into Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing is implanted
with an Israeli bug.

Israel’s controversial Unit 8200
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/tags/unit-8200-1844841478> uses such
surveillance methods to find “pressure points” to turn Palestinians into
informants. The Unit often seeks out gay Palestinians
<https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-idf-gays-who-help-blackmail-gays-1.5305326>,
and burdens them with the impossible choice of having their sexuality
revealed to their friends and family, which may lead to persecution, or
becoming informants and spying on their communities for the Israeli
government.

<https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/candiru-israel-spyware-surveillance-imperialism>

Israeli spyware: What you read could make you a target

Read More »
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/candiru-israel-spyware-surveillance-imperialism>

Over the past half-decade, there has been a notable increase and
diversification in Israeli surveillance methods. Israel encouraged the tech
and security sector to produce algorithms and surveillance tools to sift
through Palestinian social media content, and its controversial predictive
policing programme has seen hundreds of Palestinians arrested
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-israel-jails-palestinians-who-fit-terrorist-profile-1.5477437>
on charges of social media incitement since 2015.

The Covid-19 <https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/covid> pandemic has
exacerbated the situation, as Israel has used the guise of public health to
roll out new invasive surveillance measures. Palestinians face severe
restrictions on freedom of movement and must apply for travel permits, but
in light of the pandemic, Israel last year launched a mobile application
<https://7amleh.org/2020/06/14/the-palestinian-digital-rights-coalition-warns-against-the-phone-application-the-coordinator>
to replace in-person permitting services.

While the app was framed as a public health measure, its more insidious
intentions are clear in its terms of service, which force users to provide
access to the data stored on their phones
<https://7amleh.org/2020/06/14/the-palestinian-digital-rights-coalition-warns-against-the-phone-application-the-coordinator>,
such as calls and photos. This becomes more problematic when understanding
how important these services are for many Palestinians.

Without proper permits, it can be difficult to find work within the small
geographical areas to which many Palestinians are confined. Israel’s
pandemic response has thus forced Palestinians to choose between access to
a professional livelihood, or maintaining their right to privacy.
Closed-circuit cameras

At the same time, video surveillance and facial recognition software are a
daily reality for Palestinians. In 2000, several hundred closed-circuit
television cameras (CCTVs) were installed
<https://www.jpost.com/national-news/the-eyes-of-the-old-city-mabat-2000-captures-all-316885>
in the Old City of Jerusalem. In 2015, that system was significantly
expanded
<https://7amleh.org/storage/Digital%20Surveillance%20Jerusalem_7.11.pdf>,
and today, facial-recognition technology
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-facial-recognition-cameras-police-press-review>
has become so widespread that many Palestinians no longer feel safe in
their own homes.

Some CCTVs are positioned in such a way that they can see into private
homes, leading some women to resort to sleeping in their hijabs
<https://7amleh.org/storage/Digital%20Surveillance%20Jerusalem_7.11.pdf>,
while other families are reluctant to let their children play outside, as
the cameras have stripped away any sense of privacy.

Governments around the world must push for increased regulation and
transparency in how surveillance technologies are developed and deployed

While Israel’s system of surveillance is clearly built on a lack of regard
for Palestinians’ basic rights, including their right to privacy, the
response from global governments has been slow and ineffective in
addressing the issue. The work of civil society organisations and digital
rights defenders is thus a vital tool for increasing public pressure on
surveillance companies.

In response to mounting pressure, the US recently blacklisted NSO Group and
Candiru
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/candiru-israel-spyware-suspected-attack-middle-east-eye>,
saying they “developed and supplied spyware to foreign governments that
used these tools to maliciously target government officials, journalists,
businesspeople, activists, academics, and embassy workers”. And last year,
amid intense public scrutiny, Microsoft announced
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/microsoft-set-divest-israeli-facial-recognition-firm-tracking-palestinians>
that it would sell its stake in the Israeli facial recognition company
AnyVision.

Yet, this does not go far enough to tackle the systemic issue of entrenched
Israeli surveillance systems and the testing of such technology on
Palestinians. Governments around the world must push for increased
regulation and transparency in how surveillance technologies are developed
and deployed, and sanction companies that depend on the exploitation of
marginalised communities to test their products.

*The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not
necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.*
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