One Year of Damage by the ‘Tech Hub’ of the Middle East
The war on Palestine, and its spillover into Lebanon, did not start on October 7, 2023, but that date marked a new escalation in genocidal violence, endorsed by advanced technology and Israel debt.
Despite the volumes of investments Israel has spent into bombing and destroying Palestine, and parts of Lebanon and Syria, its technology sector remains “holding strong,” due to the financial support it receives from the US. The most recent tech fund, amounting to $8.7 billion, effectively cancels out any Israel faces.
Digital Dehumanization
Human Rights Watch has assessed four key tools used in military operations. One tool tracks the evacuations of Palestinians from northern Gaza using cell phone location data. Another, known as “The Gospel,” lists buildings slated for strikes.
“Lavender” tags individuals based on suspected associations with armed groups, while “Where’s Daddy?” geo-tags specific targets so that strikes could be carried out at precise locations.
Tracking people through their mobile phone signals, the cell phone tracking tool should be responsible for monitoring over a million residents in Northern Gaza, Southern Lebanon, and the Southern suburbs of Beirut. This technique often proves, and the power grid and telecom ended up blasted by the Israeli bombings, putting deadly errors at an incredibly high risk.
The inaccuracy in cellphone tracking makes it highly unreliable to be used as targeting decisions with potential civilian casualties. This was exhibited by the assassination of many citizens in Southern Lebanon that were carrying on their daily tasks and were targeted by different Israeli suicidal drones such as the IAI drone, Hermes, and the list goes on but the Israel debt seems no where to be found.
Shifting Attention to Palestine and Lebanon
In May 2024, data linked to this tracking system was inadvertently posted online, showing population counts and personal details of Gaza residents, which included surnames of large families mapped across 620 blocks of Gaza. Human Rights Watch could not confirm whose data this was, but its emergence suggested a dangerous level of surveillance used to inform military actions.
The same scenario that began in Palestine last year is taking place in Lebanon. It began with the pagers attack and continued with their targeted assassinations not only on political figures but also civilians.
The risks posed by these digital tools in warfare extend far beyond the Israel debt with the state’s heavy reliance on automated systems can lead to “digital dehumanization, whereby humans get reduced to data points.” When this dehumanization is combined with constant surveillance, it magnifies the risk of indiscriminate targeting, heightening the likelihood of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.
Israel has already violated every possible law that was formed but who can stop it? Who can stop the genocides that they have been committing for 76 years, with 2023-2024 added to yearly count, with all the tech advancements and tech funds?
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