In less than a week, Salah Hamouri’s life has changed forever. This activist originally Palestinian-French Jerusalemremembers those days from France. “The Israeli government has accused six Palestinian human rights organizations of terrorism,” he recalls. Among them was Addameer, who supported thousands of prisoners. Palestinians who rots in jail Israel. Hamouri was one of them. Since his release from prison in 2011, he has dedicated himself as a lawyer to defending prisoners. “Three or four days later they definitively canceled my residence permit,” he says. And “I went to prison under administrative detention within five months.” last December, Israel He deported Hamouri to France with no possibility of returning to his country. Palestine local.
Everything was through his phone. Hamouri was one of the team’s six defenders. human rights Palestinians who are mobile Pegasus infected with spyware. “My professional life as a lawyer for Palestinian prisoners has become dangerous for me, my clients, and my team,” he told this newspaper. “All confidential information, all sworn statements put families at risk, and it was very difficult for me to work,” she accuses. Today, the story of Hamouri, who is forced to be told far from the borders of Palestine, is shared by his compatriots. Israel implements a regime of technological repression through control of its communications infrastructure and cyber surveillance subjecting the Palestinian people.
orwell’s reality
“The Israeli occupation has always relied on the column of watching, watching and seeing how their daily lives are like to control all the movements of Palestinians,” he explains. Itxaso Dominguez de Olazabalresponsible for the incidence of 7amleh in the European Union. This Palestinian organization called the Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Networks is tasked with monitoring Israel’s digital abuses. “As Palestinians, we always have this feeling of being under pressure. surveillance“We don’t live in a normal situation because we know the occupation is trying to take all of our knowledge about our daily, personal and professional lives,” says Hamouri. it adds.
walking around Jerusalem Looking a few feet above your head allows you to see the Orwellian reality in which Palestinians live. Hundreds of cameras they realize this. “These cameras feed a database. biometric data exceeding all information held about a person (professional, family, police or your file with the Israeli Army) to guess later. preventive detentions“, also explains the professor of International Relations. Microsoft Invested in Israeli start-up AnyVision develop sophisticated technology face recognition It is already helping Israeli troops crush the Palestinians.
Pro-Palestinian content removed
“We have the consciousness that espionage daily”, admits Hamouri. According to 7amleh, Palestinian authority and its Government Hamas inside Loop to use technology hacking citizens’ phones in their attacks on freedom of expression and thought. the absence of legislation guaranteeing the right privacy and data protection aggravates the situation. “The right to have Internet Domínguez de Olazábal says the Palestinians’ free, secure, fair and equal rights are violated because Israel controls the information and telecommunications infrastructure in historic Palestine, namely Israel and the occupied territories.
In contrast, tech companies Aimowner Facebook And instagramremove pro-Palestinian content to silence their struggles. Israeli influence knows no bounds. “We know that Israel is a very qualified country. espionage and cyber surveillance systems, one of the best countries in the world in this sector,” says Hamouri. Palestinian society “guinea pigs in an open air laboratory“, as Israeli analyst Jeff Halper warned a few years ago. And there are many who benefit from this knowledge.
profession export
” weaponry Domínguez de Olazábal has the guarantee that products sold by Israel are tested in the field, the same is true with cyber surveillance, which is tested on millions of people,” recalls Domínguez de Olazábal. democratic Those who use Pegasus against opposition, human rights defenders or activists,” he adds. espionage It was tested on the Palestinian population for years until it was perfected before being exported from Israel. “See these dictators Buying technology from Israel is clear evidence of their coordination with the occupation,” states Hamouri.
In most cases, Israel is not even hidden. Former members of the Israeli security services set up or run these cyber espionage companies. “These people who built their careers on breaking international law, country of origin “The Hebrew State is proud of,” said the representative of 7amleh. It’s a metaphor, because a lot of what happens here eventually happens to the rest of the planet,” he concludes.