An article in SOMO by Lydia de Leeuw and Max Lamb entitled “Making a Killing? State and corporate commercial ties to genocide in Gaza – and what governments and companies must do to prevent it” explains how AI and technology are used by Israelis on Palestinians and how countries who support it are complicit.
Long excerpt:
Israel is plausibly committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. This briefer examines the legal consequences of this order for companies and third states, with regard to businesses domiciled in their territory and to their own trade and economic relations.
…
The Israeli military uses IT systems to identify targets for military attacks and has been carrying out near-automated bombing campaigns in densely populated areas, with minimal human involvement in decision-making of the targeting. One system, referred to by Israeli intelligence officials as the Gospel, “marks buildings and structures that the army claims militants operate from” and is used in the large scale targeting of civilian buildings. A second system, called Lavender , identifies people to be put on a “kill list” and has played a central role in the widespread killing of civilians.
Mass surveillance and facial recognition have been applied in Gaza by the Israeli military “cataloging the faces of Palestinians without their knowledge or consent, according to Israeli intelligence officers, military officials and soldiers.” The New York Times has reported that technology provided by Israeli company Corsight is run by Israel’s military (cyber-) intelligence unit 8200, which was tasked with creating a “hit list.” American data analytics company Palantir Technologies, specialised in defence and intelligence services, has also acknowledged that it provides services to the Israeli Ministry of Defence to support “war-related missions.” Palantir’s CEO has stated that the company’s services are responsible for “most of the targeting” in the war in Ukraine, and Time Magazine has reported that such services can identify a military target and prompt an attack within three minutes – it is plausible that similar technology is being used by Israeli armed forces in Gaza.
Additionally, it cannot be ruled out that AI and cloud computing services provided to the Israeli government by Amazon and Google are being used by the Israeli military in its conduct, including the potential commission of genocidal acts. Time Magazine found that Google has provided services to the Israeli Ministry of Defence as of 27 March 2024, and according to the companies’ own employees , such services are capable of being used for surveillance and military target identification.
Social media
According to advocacy group Law for Palestine , popular social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, X, Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram are being used by Israeli civilians and military personnel alike to spread content which could plausibly be viewed as incitement to genocide, including genocidal rhetoric, dehumanisation speech, and incitement to violence. The organisation has compiled a list , last updated on 27 February 2024, recording over 500 separate instances of statements inciting genocide, many of which were initially shared via these platforms, in addition to media outlets. Israeli soldiers regularly post videos to Instagram and TikTok celebrating the destruction of civilian buildings and infrastructure. In one particularly egregious example, the IDF has admitted to running a widely subscribed Telegram channel with posts sensationalising the violence in Gaza. A video of an Israeli military vehicle crushing a dead body was posted on the channel and captioned “Exclusive video of a good night, don’t forget to share and repost.” To the extent that these social media platforms host such content and structurally fail to prevent its publication or remove it, the companies and/or their (senior) employees may be complicit in genocide.