My Take | How Israel’s technology of occupation spreads around the world
- Spyware Pegasus is just the tip of the iceberg, investigative journalist Antony Loewenstein tells scmp.com. His new book warns such hi-tech surveillance tools are being sold by Israel to autocracies and democracies alike, with profound implications for the privacy of citizens everywhere
Israel has occupied Palestinian territories for more than half a century. During this time, a militarily enforced system of repression has been refined with new technologies of surveillance and spying. As a result, according to investigative journalist and bestselling author Antony Loewenstein, the country has developed a hi-tech surveillance industry whose technologies are being sold to autocracies and democracies alike.
“What happens in Palestine does not stay in Palestine,” he warns, and the never-ending occupation not only concerns Palestinian human rights and self-determination, but has implications for the right of privacy of citizens around the world.
(The following includes answers from a previous interview I conducted with Antony Loewenstein in addition to the conversations we recorded online here.)
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1. Let’s start with the title of your new book, The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World. What do you mean by “laboratory”? And what kinds of surveillance and control technologies have been selected for export to other countries?
After running the longest occupation in modern times, 56 years and counting in Palestine, Israel has developed a variety of tools and technologies to control an “enemy” population, the Palestinians. These Palestinians are guinea pigs for a range of defence equipment, from spyware and smart walls to facial recognition and biometric tools to drones.