Israeli robots and “smart” weapons in the occupied territories

In two places in the West Bank, Israel has installed remote controlled weapons using artificial intelligence which can fire tear gas, flash grenades and rubber-tipped bullets at Palestinian protesters.

The weapons, emplaced in a crowded Palestinian refugee camp and a tense West Bank city, use artificial intelligence to identify their targets. Israel says technology saves livesBoth Israelis and Palestinians.

But critical voices see it as another step towards a dystopian reality in which Israel reaffirms its indefinite occupation of Palestinians while keeping its soldiers out of harm’s way.

The weapons were installed amid rising tensions in the occupied West Bank, which has seen a sharp increase in violence in the deadliest year since 2006. The electoral victory of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s belligerent alliance, which includes a party of extreme right closely linked to the settler movement, has stoked fears of further violence.

Arms in all occupied territories

Two turrets, each equipped with a camera and a cannon, were recently installed on a watchtower in Al Aroub refugee camp in the southern West Bank. As young Palestinian protesters take to the streets and throw stones and firebombs at Israeli soldiers, the system shoots tear gas or rubber-tipped balls at themaccording to witnesses.

About a month ago, the army also placed the robots in the nearby city of Hebron, where soldiers often clash with stone-throwing Palestinian residents. The army declined to comment on its plans to deploy the system elsewhere in the West Bank.

Palestinian activist Issa Amro and Hebron residents fear there is misuse of weapons or computer piracy, without legal liability in life-threatening situations. People are also fearful of what they perceive as a civilian weapons test.

“We are not training and simulating for Israeli companies,” he said. “This is something new that has to stop.”

There are no soldiers next to the cars. Instead, the weapons are operated by remote control. With the touch of a button, soldiers inside the watchtower can shoot at selected targets.

The army says the system is being tested and only fires “non-lethal” ammunition for crowd control such as rubber-tipped bullets and tear gas. Al Aroub residents say the turrets have repeatedly flooded the camp with gas on a hill.

“We don’t open the window, we don’t open the door. We know we don’t have to open anything,” shopkeeper Hussein al-Muzyeen said.

The use of AI weapons is growing around the world

robotic weapons ever they are most used around the world. Armies are expanding their use of drones to carry out deadly attacks, from Ukraine to Ethiopia. The United States in Iraq, South Korea along the border with North Korea, and various Syrian rebel groups have used remote-controlled weapons such as Israel’s system in the West Bank.

Israel, known for its advanced military technology, is among the world’s leading manufacturers of drones and can launch precision-guided missiles. It has built a fence along its borders with the Gaza Strip which it has underground and underwater radars and sensors.

Above the surface, he employs a robotic vehicle equipped with cameras and machine guns to patrol the unstable borders. The army also tests and uses cutting-edge surveillance technologies such as facial recognition and collects biometric data from Palestinians who carry out the routine tasks of life under occupation, such as applying for Israeli travel permits.

“Israel uses this technology like a means of controlling the civilian populationsaid Dror Sadot, a spokesman for Israeli rights group B’TSelem. Even supposedly non-lethal weapons such as rubber-tipped bullets can cause great pain and even be fatal, he said.

Al Aroub’s turrets were built by Smart Shooter, a company that makes “fire control systems” that it says significantly increase things like the “accuracy and lethality” of small arms fire. The company claims to have contracts with dozens of armies around the worldincluding American.

Speaking at the company’s headquarters in Kibbutz Yagur in northern Israel, its chief executive, Michal Mor, said the weapon requires a human to select targets and ammunition.

“They always have one man in the process who makes the decision on the rightful target,” he explained.

The system minimize the number of casualties drawing soldiers away from the violence and limiting collateral damage by making shots more accurate, he added.

In a densely populated area like Al Aroub, he noted, soldiers can keep tabs on specific people in a crowd and lock onto specific body parts. The system only kicks in after factoring in complex factors like wind speed, distance and speed, she added.

The military says these safeguards minimize risk to soldiers and improve the supervision of their activities. He also notes that the technology allows soldiers to target “less sensitive” areas of the body to minimize damage and avoid shooting bystanders.

“In this way, the system reduces the likelihood of inaccurate fire,” he said.

But Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch, said Israel was turning “toward digital dehumanization of weapon systems”. By using this technology, Shakir said, Israel creates “a powder keg for human rights violations.”

Violence on the rise in the West Bank

Violence in the West Bank has skyrocketed in recent months as Israel has stepped up raids to make arrests after a series of Palestinian attacks inside Israel that killed 19 people last spring. More than 130 Palestinians have been killed in fighting this year and at least 10 Israelis have been killed in recent attacks.

Israel says raids intend to dismantle the armed infrastructure and that it was forced to act due to the passivity of the Palestinian security forces. Palestinians feel that the night raids on their cities have weakened their security forces and strengthened Israeli control over the land they claim for a future state.

Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East war.

In Al Aroub, residents said cars were firing without warning.

“It’s very fast, even faster than the soldiers” said Kamel Abu Hishesh, a 19-year-old student. He described clashes almost every night in which soldiers stormed the camp as automatic weapons fired tear gas all the way up the hill.

Paul Scharre, vice president of the Washington Center’s think tank for a New American Security and a former US military sniper, said that without emotion and with better aim, automated systems can reduce violence.

However, he noted that the absence of international standards for “killer robots” is problematic. Without those rules, it’s only a matter of time that these automated systems are equipped to use deadly force, he said.

Source: Associated Press