Mass surveillance, AI systems, and the collection of personal data raise new questions for international law in times of conflict. Örebro researcher Mais Qandeel has investigated how these technologies are used in Israel’s war on Gaza and whether they violate human rights and the laws of war.
“Israel’s war on Gaza shows how extensive surveillance can be deployed against a civilian population, and this is something that Sweden and the rest of the world should be talking about more,” says Mais Qandeel, Docent of International Law at Örebro University, Sweden.
In her article in the Journal of Genocide Research, Mais Qandeel evaluates Israel’s mass surveillance systems in light of international humanitarian law (IHL). This branch of law – often called the laws of war – governs Israel’s legal obligations in the Palestinian territories. Israel is required to protect the local Palestinian population and to ensure the continuation of ordinary life.
“Mass surveillance of civilians violates this obligation because it’s neither proportionate nor a military necessity,” says Mais Qandeel.
Under international humanitarian law, the parties to a conflict must “…distinguish between the civilian population and combatants and between civilian objects and military objectives…” and when an attack is expected to harm civilians, it must not be carried out. Israel’s surveillance contributes to attacks on the civilian population.
“…this often consists only of confirming that the target is male”
“The Lavender system is designed to target people in their homes at night and while their entire families are present. Some of the systems require human authorisation, but it has been reported that this often consists only of confirming that the target is male, since Israel assumes that all men are combatants,” says Mais Qandeel.
The article details the surveillance systems that enable attacks on civilians and allow Israel to map nearly everything – including how much food is available to families in different areas of Palestine. Other researchers, including Israeli professor Neve Gordon, have shown how Israeli authorities have calculated calorie intake, which is documented in government documents. This results in uncertainty and shortages in the food supply, for example, through restrictions on agriculture and aid. The consequences are well known.
“The starvation of the Palestinian population is deliberate and calculated, based on the mass data that Israel has collected on Palestinians over several decades,” says Mais Qandeel.
Mais Qandeel draws on the concept of surveillant assemblage, which describes how once-separate surveillance systems are combined by authoritarian states, for example, to control their populations.
She uses the term Genocidal Surveillant Assemblage (GSA) to describe how Israel’s use of surveillance technology enables and automates the mass killing of civilians and the destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure.
“Israel uses a range of surveillance systems – including drones, communications interception systems, facial recognition, and AI-driven targeting tools – to facilitate what the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine and leading genocide scholars agree constitutes genocide.”
In her article in the Journal of Genocide Research, Mais Qandeel has used the following sources:
• Over 100 articles in news media.
• Research articles on international law.
• Reports from UN bodies and other international organisations: United Nations Human Rights Council, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
• Opinions and supporting documents from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and international conventions (the Geneva Convention, among others).
• Reports from independent organisations such as B’Tselem, Amnesty International, the Red Cross, and Human Rights Watch.