Palestinians are not mere data sets; they are real, living human beings with families

Apr 23, 2024 Letters

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Dear Editor,

Recent investigations by +972 Magazine and Local Call have detailed the Israeli Defense Force’s (IDF) use of the artificial intelligence system “Lavender” in Gaza, prompting me to express my deep concerns with urgency.

The Israeli army, using this technology in conjunction with other systems such as “Where’s Daddy?” and “The Gospel,” has effectively utilized data management to turn Gaza into a killing field, treating Palestinians as mere statistical variables in a deadly formula.

In the early stages of Israel’s recent war on Gaza, the “Lavender” system was designed specifically to identify all individuals suspected of association with the military wings of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), including those at lower levels, flagging up to 37,000 people as potential targets for bombing. In the early phases of its use, Israeli army officers had broad discretion to act on “Lavender’s kill list” without needing to confirm the reasons for such identifications, resulting in minimal oversight. Before granting authorization to bomb, the IDF officer only needed to confirm that the target was a male. The system made decisions to authorize bombings in as little as 20 seconds, often based on vague or non-existent links to militant groups. Given a 10% error rate, it raises the question of the number of Palestinian lives brutally lost due to a statistical error. More recently, did Lavender also targeted the 7 World Central Kitchen aid workers? Could Lavender have caused another statistical error? And how many more Palestinian lives will be snuffed out and cut down because of Lavender’s statistical errors, as the Israeli army’s unfolding genocide doesn’t seem to be coming to an end soon?

“Where’s Daddy?” exacerbates the problem by identifying individuals at their most vulnerable moments, particularly at home, which increases the likelihood of civilian casualties and turns safe havens into high-risk zones. The approach suggests a disregard for the sanctity of Palestinian lives, as family members of targeted Palestinians often become casualties themselves. The use of “dumb bombs” for lower-level targets, which destroy entire buildings to ensure the elimination of the intended target, speaks to a grim efficiency and a profound indifference to the collateral damage inflicted. This is a cost-saving measure for the IDF, as one Israeli officer puts it: ““You don’t want to waste expensive bombs on unimportant people; it’s very expensive for the country, and there’s a shortage [of those bombs].””.

Furthermore, policies allowing up to 20 civilian deaths to eliminate a single low-ranking target and accepting the death of 100 Palestinians as collateral for a high-ranking Hamas operative highlight a chilling devaluation of Palestinian lives based solely on geographic and demographic profiles.

The “Lavender” software analyzes a massive amount of data on almost all 2.3 million residents of Gaza, ranking everyone’s likelihood of being active in Hamas or PIJ. The criteria for these assessments include overly broad and often inaccurate markers, such as participation in certain WhatsApp groups or frequent changes of address or phone numbers. Even past affiliations or coincidental use of a device previously owned by a Hamas operative can flag an individual as a target. The IDF’s mechanized, detached approach to this recent ongoing massacre profoundly devalues Palestinian lives by reducing them to mere statistical data in a software system. Using these AI systems, the Israeli army has indiscriminately slaughtered thousands of Palestinians in this unfolding genocide.

Palestinians are not mere data sets; they are real, living human beings with families, hopes, dreams, and aspirations. Even animals are not slaughtered as indiscriminately as the Israelis have been killing the Palestinians. To treat Palestinians as mere statistics that could be easily deleted shows how little value the Israeli army has placed on their lives. However, the world needs to wake up from its slumber and recognize the genocide unfolding in Gaza. It is imperative that we address these revelations not merely as a critique of the Israeli Defense Force’s brutal and savage military strategy but as an urgent call to action to stop what amounts to an unfolding genocide.

We must demand an end to this genocide and an immediate ceasefire. We must demand that Israel lift the blockade on Gaza and allow humanitarian aid into the region. We must insist that the IDF immediately stop bombing and destroying schools, places of worship, hospitals, etc. We must insist on holding the Israeli army accountable for its actions. We must demand an end to the IDF’s occupation of internationally recognized Palestinian territories. We must demand an end to settler-colonialism, settler-violence and the theft of Palestinian lands. We must call on all governments to recognize Palestine as a state and support the right of Palestinians to self-determination. We must advocate for a free Palestine. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.

Yours sincerely,

Shazad Sookram

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• families, Investigations, Israeli Defense Force's (IDF), Magazine, Shazad Sookram

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