(Hebron) The Israeli army has developed a facial recognition system to record Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, an Israeli organization told AFP on Tuesday that collected testimonies from soldiers, confirming press reports.
According to the American newspaper Washington post, the IDF has been using a technology called “Blue Wolf” for two years where soldiers photograph the faces of Palestinians with their cell phones, before the images are sent to a database that says then whether the person photographed should be arrested or left free, based on information already in the possession of Israeli forces.
the Washington post was based on the testimonies of several former soldiers shared with the Israeli anti-occupation organization “Breaking the Silence”, which offers under cover of anonymity a platform for the military to denounce what they believe to be reprehensible actions by the army , which has occupied the West Bank since 1967.
Israeli soldiers “are sent to patrol towns and villages with some kind of smartphone and take pictures of every Palestinian they see, in a completely arbitrary fashion,” Ori Givati, one of the officials told AFP. the NGO “Breaking the Silence”.
After taking a photo, their phone is displayed in red if an arrest needs to be made, in yellow if the person needs to be detained temporarily before consulting the hierarchy or in green if there is no need to. ‘act, said Mr. Givati, whose organization has gathered corroborating testimonies from six soldiers.
Competition between soldiers
“There is a competition between the soldiers […] and even rewards, ”he added.
“The message that we give (to the soldiers) is: ‘everyone is an enemy, you must suspect them all'”, said the deputy director of the NGO, Nadav Weiman, during a visit on Tuesday with AFP in Hebron, in the southern West Bank.
In this powder town where 200,000 Palestinians live, and 1,000 Jewish settlers under heavy Israeli military protection in the center, the army has stepped up its system of facial recognition cameras, according to “Breaking the Silence”.
In the city center, Zoulaikha Muhtaseb, a 59-year-old Palestinian resident, is sorry to be “surrounded by the cameras”.
“It’s a violation. No one would like to be constantly watched, ”she told AFP.
Asked by AFP on this affair, the Israeli army said it was carrying out “routine security operations” in the West Bank aimed at “fighting terrorism” and “improving the quality of life” of Palestinians. “Of course, we cannot comment on the operational capabilities of the army in this context,” she added.
“One of the soldiers with whom we spoke told us: ‘I would never agree to such a system being set up in my neighborhood,” “Givati told AFP. The soldiers “were shocked at the things they were asked to do.”
“We are talking about a new layer of control that we allow ourselves to put in place over the Palestinian people,” he lambasted.