For years, Israel’s rapidly growing military industrial complex has turned the regime into a leading exporter of sophisticated weaponry and cutting edge spyware. For just as long, Israel has used Palestinians under occupation and blockade as unwilling test subjects for its increasingly deadly and oppressive weapons technologies.

From Pegasus spyware to attack drones to AI targeting systems, Israel now exports its tools of subjugation to oppressive forces across the globe. Israeli spyware has been used to hack the phones of journalists; Israeli weapons were used by the Myanmar army to massacre thousands of Rohingyas; Israeli drone technology has been seen in multiple countries across Africa. And for more than 10 months, Israel has been testing out advanced AI targeting systems to streamline the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

In our upcoming policy lab, Marwa Fatafta and Antony Loewenstein join host Tariq Kenney-Shawa to discuss Gaza as a testing ground for Israel’s global war industry.

Marwa Fatafta is an Al-Shabaka policy analyst and leads Access Now’s policy and advocacy work on digital rights in the Middle East and North Africa. Her work spans a number of issues at the nexus of human rights and technology, including content governance and platform accountability, online censorship, surveillance, and transnational repression. Marwa is also an advisory board member of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, and an advisory committee member for Bread&Net.

Antony Loewenstein is an independent journalist, author, filmmaker and co-founder of Declassified Australia. He's written for The Guardian, The New York Times, The New York Review of Books and many others. His books include the global best-seller The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World and My Israel Question.

Tariq Kenney-Shawa is Al-Shabaka's US Policy Fellow and co-host of Al-Shabaka's Policy Lab series. He holds a Masters degree in International Affairs from Columbia University. Tariq's research and writing have covered a range of topics, from the role of open-source intelligence in exposing Israel's war crimes to analysis of Palestinian liberation tactics.

About the Policy Lab Program: Al-Shabaka's Policy Lab Program is an online live-stream space where audiences can engage directly with expert analysts from our nearly 200-member network as they craft policies and strategies related to Palestine. The labs are free and open for public participation, inviting viewers to join in on policy discussions.

Note: This discussion will take place in English. Our policy labs are supported through the generosity of donors. They are free to attend, though we accept contributions on a sliding scale upon registration to help sustain the program.

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Gaza: Testing Ground for Israel’s Global Weapons Industry