Israel increasingly relies on facial recognition in the occupied West Bank to track Palestinians and restrict their passage through checkpoints, a new report found, a sign of how artificial intelligence-driven surveillance can be used against an ethnic group.
At high-fenced checkpoints in Hebron, Palestinians stand in front of facial recognition cameras before being allowed to cross. By scanning their faces, the software — known as Red Wolf — uses a color-coded system of green, yellow and red to guide soldiers on whether to let the person go, hold them for questioning, or arrest them, the Amnesty report reveals. International.
Israel has a long time to restrict the freedom of movement of Palestiniansbut technological advances are giving authorities powerful new tools.
In Hebron and East Jerusalem, technology is focused almost entirely on Palestinians, says the Amnesty report. The organization called the process “automated apartheid.” Israel has strongly denied operating an apartheid regime.
The Israel Defense Forces, which plays a central role in the occupied West Bank, said to carry out “necessary security and intelligence operations, while making significant efforts to minimize damage to the routine activity of the Palestinian population”.
On facial recognition, they added: “Naturally, we cannot refer to operational and intelligence capabilities.”
Since the protests in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, in East Jerusalem, for the eviction of Palestinian families in 2021, the presence of cameras has increased in the area.
Government forces also use the cameras on their phones. Israeli authorities have a facial recognition app, Blue Wolf, to identify Palestinians, according to Breaking the Silence, an organization that collects testimonies from Israeli soldiers.
The surveillance is partly an effort to reduce violence against Israelis. This year, Palestinian attackers have killed 19 Israelis. At least 100 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces this year, many in gun battles that broke out during military operations to arrest Palestinian gunmen. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 after capturing it from Jordan during the Arab-Israeli war that year.
Issa Amro, a Palestinian activist in Hebron, a West Bank city where violence is common, said people are under constant surveillance.
“Everything is guarded,” Amro said. “My whole life is watched. I have no privacy”.
ADAM SATARIAN and PAUL MOZUR
THE NEW YORK TIMES
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/6706821, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-05-10 20:30:07
#Israel #accused #promoting #automated #apartheid #Palestinians