Euro-Med monitor: Major technology, social media companies caused death of civilians in Gaza

Amman: The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has called for an investigation at various local and international levels into the involvement of major technology and social media companies in causing the deaths of Palestinian civilians in Israel's military attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 7. The Euro-Med monitor called for holding these companies accountable if it is proven that they colluded or failed to exercise due diligence to prevent access to and exploitation of their users' private information, and obliging them to ensure that they avoid misusing their services in war zones and violating the privacy of their users. The Euro-Med monitor warns that Israel is reportedly using AI-powered technological systems, such as Gospel, Fire Factory, Lavender, and Where's Daddy, all of which operate as part of a system aimed at illegally surveilling, tracking, and monitoring the movements of Palestinians. These systems work to identify targets and suspects and identify them as legitimate targets based on potentia l information not related to the location or person itself in most cases but by searching for commonalities and patterns between the general population in the Gaza Strip, especially males, and members of armed factions in the Gaza Strip. According to the published investigations, the accuracy of the information provided by these systems is not verified by the Israeli military in most cases, despite the prior knowledge that there is a large margin of error due to the nature of the work of these systems and their inability to provide updated information, especially regarding the whereabouts of those placed on the targeting list in real time, and despite the Israeli military's awareness of the frequency of error after the targeting, the Euro-Med monitor said. The Euro-Med monitor pointed to revelations about the Lavender system, which is heavily used by the Israeli army to identify suspects in the Gaza Strip before targeting them, a system that causes a deliberately high rate of civilian casualties, noting tha t it relies on the logic of probability. The Euro-Med monitor cited Israeli military and intelligence sources admitting to attacking potential targets without taking into account the principle of proportionality and collateral damage, while there are consistent suspicions that the "Lavender" system relies among its sources on tracking accounts on social media sites. It was also recently revealed that Israel and Google have collaborated on several technological projects, including the Nimbus project, which provides the Israeli military with technology that allows it to intensify surveillance and unlawfully collect information on Palestinians, thereby contributing to the deepening of policies of oppression and persecution of Palestinians and the commission of various crimes against them. The Euro-Med monitor urged these companies to provide immediate explanations based on impartial internal investigations into allegations of their complicity or exploitation of their services and applications in committing cr imes against Palestinians. Source: Jordan News Agency