Israel’s current surveillance initiative involves a gamified smartphone technology that captures photos of Palestinians’ faces and matches them to an extensive database of images. The phone app flashes in different colors to alert soldiers if a person is to be detained, arrested or left alone. To build the database used by the app, Israeli soldiers take thousands of photos of Palestinians, including children and elderly people, frequently without the knowledge of the subjects of the photos. The surveillance program is extensive, and designed to establish further control over the Palestinian population in Israel and the Occupied Territories.
On this webinar, we spoke with Ori Givati, Breaking the Silence’s Advocacy Director, about gamified surveillance, the permit system under which Palestinian labor operates, and the role that Breaking the Silence plays in exposing the systems in place that control Palestinian movement and daily life.
Ori Givati served in the Armored Corps of the IDF from 2010 – 2013 as a tank commander. In 2017 Ori
decided to break his silence and provide testimony about his personal experience as a soldier in the occupied
Palestinian territories. Ori then joined the team of Breaking the Silence as a researcher, and today he is their
Advocacy Director.
Read the transcript HERE.
Watch the video recording HERE.
Listen to the audio on Peacecast.