Aljazeera-English

Good question. In our first episode, we looked at the AI-powered surveillance the Israeli military is using in Hebron. Essentially, Palestinians are being enrolled in a database at checkpoints - without their consent - which governs their movement around the city.

These databases consist exclusively of Palestinians. Jewish Israelis - settlers included - do not have to contend with these forms of surveillance and control.

Amnesty International's Matt Mahmoudi sums it up really well in the piece when he says: 'I don't think there's any point in history in which the creation of a database consisting exclusively of one ethnic or racialized group has ever led to any good outcomes.'

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Hi u/historycat95 yes, we cover this story on air. Al Jazeera doesn't limit what we're can and can't report on

Some of the most interesting responses we've had to the films have been from Israelis who really had no idea that these invasive forms of control were being used on Palestinians. There are lots of reasons for that - the Israeli media is one of them.

I don't disagree with you that invasive surveillance has become a disturbingly common feature of modern life. The difference here is that surveillance is being used by an occupying power to control an occupied population.

In the second episode of the film, we spoke with a former Israeli intelligence officer in the elite Unit 8200. You might find what he told us instructive:

"The secrecy around 8200 and the intelligence community in general, helps it avoid public inspection. It has this image of only collecting information, only preventing terrorism and so on. Only diminishing violence, not in any way perpetuating it. But that's not true, as we know from other military regimes around the world. Intelligence is an integral part of a forced control over people."

When I asked him how important surveillance was in sustaining Israel's occupation and apartheid practices, here's what he said:

"Crucial. Essential. Couldn't continue one day without intelligence. It’s like a deteriorating situation where you have to use more and more force to keep the same level of control. So in the end, it's going to explode. I mean, it cannot keep going. There's a limit to the force you can use."

It's getting late where I am so I hope you'll forgive the short responses to your points:

1) Surveillance exists as a means of control. As we describe in the films, surveillance has been used to control indigenous Palestinians for more than a hundred years. Perhaps the more pertinent questions are: why does the occupation exist? Why do the majority of Israeli politicians continue to support what Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights orgs all call a system of apartheid?

2/3) We would have liked to ask these questions to the Israeli military but they declined an interview. As I mentioned elsewhere, even a former Israeli Major General with experience in the Occupied West Bank admitted to us that surveillance is as much about controlling Palestinians as it is "fighting terrorism."