Thursday, 21 November 2024

Israel using AI weapons system co-produced with Indian firm in war on Gaza

 The Arbel weapons system is said to enhance machine guns and assault weapons so users can hit their targets more accurately and efficiently

Israeli army soldiers patrol around a position along Israel's southern border with the Gaza Strip on 13 June 2024 (Jack Guez/AFP)
Israeli army soldiers patrol around a position along Israel's southern border with the Gaza Strip on 13 June 2024 (Jack Guez/AFP)

Israeli forces are using an AI weapons system in Gaza co-produced by an Indian defence company that turns machine guns and assault rifles into computerised killing machines, Middle East Eye can reveal.

According to documents and news reports seen by MEE, Israeli forces have been using the Arbel weapons system in Gaza following their devastating invasion of the enclave after the 7 October attacks on southern Israel.

Touted as a "revolutionary game changer that improves operator lethality and survivability," the Arbel system enhances machine guns and assault weapons - such as the Israeli-produced Tavor, Carmel and Negev - into a weapon that uses algorithms to boost soldiers chances of hitting targets more accurately and efficiently.

The past 13 months has seen Israeli forces engage in a catalogue of massacres - from bombing schools and refugee camps and hospitals to conducting executions on the streets of Gaza.

More women and children have been killed by Israeli firepower than in any other conflict over the past 20 years while close to 1,000 entire families have been erased.

Conservative estimates put the total number of Palestinians killed at 44,000 but a letter to President Joe Biden from a group of almost 100 US medics who had been to Gaza estimated a death toll of more than 118,000 in October. A letter in the UK medical journal The Lancet said the death toll could be more than 180,000.

Palestinians detail field executions by Israeli forces in north Gaza
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Although defence analysts say the weapon system may not be as cutting-edge or as widely used as the "Lavender" or "The Gospel" AI weapons systems - that are reported to have played a huge role in the tremendous death toll in Gaza - Arbel appears to be the first weapons system to directly tie India to Israel's rapidly expanding AI war in Gaza in what could have wide-ranging implications for other conflicts.

In September, a UN report said it was "deeply alarmed by the unprecedented destruction of civilian infrastructure and high death toll in Gaza, which raise serious concerns about the use by Israel of artificial intelligence in directing its military campaign".

"Credible media reports indicate that the Israeli military lowered the criteria for selecting targets while increasing their previously accepted ratio of civilian to combatant casualties," the report compiled by the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People, said.

Like many Israeli weapon systems, the name Arbel has its origins in the Bible. Arbel is also the name of the Israeli town that was built around the site of a Palestinian village, Hitten, that was ethnically cleansed in 1948. 

Escaping backlash 

Originally unveiled as a co-venture between Israeli Weapons Industries (IWI) and the Indian company Adani Defence & Aerospace, Arbel was announced at a defence expo in Gandhinagar in Gujarat in October 2022. IWI was an Israeli state-owned company between 1933 and 2005.

At the time, several Indian media sites hailed the weapon, describing it as "India's first AI-based firing system". However in April 2024, six months into the war on Gaza, IWI introduced the weapon as "the first computerized weapon system".

IWI said the weapon "increases the lethality, accuracy and survivability of the operator by up to three times."

Israeli journalists were given a demonstration in northern Israel, where they were informed the system was being rolled out because of the unique demands of the modern battlefield.

Not only was there no mention of it having been co-produced with Adani Defence & Aerospace, there was no indication that it had already been unveiled at a defence expo 18 months earlier.

'Arbel could easily be used to make the killing of civilians, of children, more efficient'

Noah Sylvia, Royal United Services Institute

The developers also did not disclose that Israeli ground troops had been using Arbel since they entered Gaza in October 2023.

While it's unclear what role each company played in the production of Arbel, it is likely that IWI and Adani were jointly involved in manufacturing the components with the electronics and the AI system, and the assembly of the product most likely taking place in Israel.  

Over the past year several Indian companies have, with the explicit permission of the Indian government and judiciary, continued to collaborate with Israel in its ever-expanding war effort in Gaza and the surrounding region.

But the exclusion of Adani from IWI's marketing material of the product has raised suspicions that the company may be wary of a public backlash following the criticism it faced after it was revealed it had sent drones to Israel months after the war on Gaza began, or looking to protect itself from culpability should Israel be sanctioned over its conduct in Gaza.

"The fact that Israel is utilising AI weapons like the Arbel, developed in part through Indian collaboration, underscores the increasing role of AI in modern warfare," Girish Linganna, a defence analyst based in India, said.

"Although this technology improves military efficiency, it also raises ethical concerns about the increased lethality and potential for misuse in conflict situations," Linganna added.

IWI advert promoting the Arbel system (Screenshot)
IWI advert promoting the Arbel system (Screenshot)

Defence analysts say that given the scarcity of information around the weapon technology, it is unclear to what extent it has been used in Gaza since the war began.

However, they are unanimous in their assessment that even if the weapon is meant to assist combatants target enemy fighters more efficiently by reducing the number of stray bullets and the murder of innocents, in the case of the Israeli army, it's likely Arbel has been used to carry out the carnage of Palestinians in a more efficient manner in Gaza.

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"One of the most revealing aspects of Israel's mass slaughter in Gaza is that targeting civilians was the point. It was never about just going after Hamas," Antony Loewenstein, an independent journalist who has been tracking new technologies being used in Gaza and occupied West Bank for years, told MEE.

"I have spoken to people in Gaza, I have seen the direct human impact of this kind of killing. It is horrific," Loewenstein, the author of The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports The Technology of Occupation Around The World, added.

Noah Sylvia, a research analyst at Royal United Services Institute in London, echoed Loewenstein's sentiment, adding that the impact of the tool depended "solely on the military’s operating procedures and commitment to international humanitarian law (IHL)." 

In the case of militaries who dehumanise populations and routinely violate protection of civilians, Sylvia says tools which are touted as "improving efficiency" are "often used to increase the scale of destruction to territories and populations.

"The Israeli Defence Forces [Israeli army] has demonstrated a disregard for civilian life in Gaza to the point of routinely targeting children with small arms, meaning that Arbel could easily be used to make the killing of civilians, of children, more efficient," Sylvia added.

Israel's Department of Defence directed MEE's queries to the Israeli military who did not respond to requests for comment.

India's role in Israel's war on Gaza 

Indian weapon components have played a shadowy role in Israel's war on Gaza over the past year, prompting several Indian activists and lawyers to pressure Delhi to halt military exchanges with Israel.

In February, it was reported that 20 Indian-made Israeli combat drones were delivered to Israel, with an Indian news channel claiming the Hermes 900 drones would assist "Israel's needs in the Israel-Hamas war".

At the time, defence analysts told MEE that given Israel's reliance on Hermes drones for reconnaissance missions as well as for air strikes on Gaza, it was inconceivable these would have not ended up being used to supplement Israel's war effort. 

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Incidentally, the drones were co-produced by Adani-Elbit Advanced Systems India Ltd, a joint venture between India’s Adani Defence and Aerospace and Israel’s other major weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems.

A few months later, in April, it emerged that rocket engines, explosive substances, and propellants for cannons were loaded on a ship in India for the Israeli port of Ashdod. In May, another vessel carrying weapons from India was refused entry to Spain on account of it carrying explosives en route to Israel.

The revelations about an AI weapon made in conjunction with Israel being used in Gaza is likely to reignite calls for an arms embargo, activists and observers said. 

So far, the efforts have not amounted to any changes to government policy, with the highest court in India continuing to back the ongoing relationship. India's close friendship with Israel has seen Delhi become one of Israel's most vociferous defenders of its US-backed war on Gaza.

Though it has supported a ceasefire, observers note its investment in Israel's military industrial complex as well as in Israeli armed tactics has also meant Delhi would be hard pressed to back an arms embargo despite calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. 

In September, this culminated in the Indian supreme court dismissing a petition seeking to suspend military exports from India. 

"It can indeed be challenging to pinpoint the exact production location of systems like the Arbel, particularly because defence companies and governments often keep such information opaque due to security and geopolitical concerns," Linganna added.

Both IWI and Adani Defence and Aerospace did not reply to MEE's request for comment or clarity. 

Israel, India, and AI 

In an environment in which India-Israel collaborations are usually venerated to the point of parody, it's unclear why Adani's role has been minimised in the subsequent communication about Arbel.

When the system was unveiled to the Indian public in October 2022, Ashish Rajvanshi, CEO of Adani Defence & Aerospace, described it as aiding  soldiers' lethality and survivability, especially in moments of stress and exhaustion. 

Echoing Rajvanshi's description of the product in June 2024 at an defence exhibit in France, Ronen Hamudot, executive vice president for marketing and sales at IWI, described Arbel as featuring "an electronic trigger with a new firing mode, enhancing accuracy in high-pressure situations where seconds count". 

'The lawlessness and impunity in which Israel commits egregious crimes with the use of AI should terrify everyone' 

- Marwa Fatafta, Access Now

Linganna cited that the sensitivity of the ongoing war in Gaza as well as potential backlash associated with companies for their participation as a possible reason for Adani's absence from marketing material.

"Another reason could be strategic or political considerations, where emphasising the involvement of a foreign partner may complicate diplomatic relations or public sentiment," he said. 

This however does not mean that behind closed doors Adani wouldn't be using the opportunity to showcase its role in "combat-proven" products to clients elsewhere.

Marwa Fatafta, Middle East policy and advocacy director for Access Now, a digital rights organisation, told MEE that Israel was using Gaza as a testing lab to showcase to the world "a new and terrifying blueprint for tech-enabled warfare ... this time through Indian-Israel military tech".

"Rarely does a technology stay dormant in one location," Fatafta says, adding that, "the lawlessness and impunity in which Israel commits egregious crimes with the use of AI should terrify everyone." 

Meanwhile, the military and technological exchanges and partnerships are expanding at a record rate, with Israel looking to Delhi as both a source of cheaper labour and as a market for its products both within India and elsewhere. And a central plank of this interest in India is the focus on AI.

In recent years, the Indian government has looked to AI as a means to expedite economic growth in the country. 

Between 2013 and 2022, Indian AI companies are said to have received the sixth-highest investments in AI globally, a mammoth US$7.73bn.

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According to one report earlier this year, the Indian AI market is expected to grow between US$17bn and US$22bn by 2027 and with experts anticipating India would become home to one of the largest talent pools of AI-skilled workers on the planet.

This has naturally drawn Israeli government, universities, as well as investors towards Indian start-up, talent, and institutions of higher learning.

A recent MEE investigation found that since Israel launched its war on Gaza, there were no less than two dozen meetings, memorandums of understanding and partnerships between Israeli universities and companies in the fields of robotics, AI, and defence research with their counterparts in India.

Trade union leaders opposed to the move described the developments as "pushing Indian universities into the emerging Indo-Israeli military-industrial complex."

At an Israeli-government arranged AI bootcamp for Indian start-ups earlier this month, Reuven Azar, Israel's ambassador to India, told reporters that India provided Israel with a domestic market as well as access to third markets, especially in the United States and Europe.

"So many Israeli companies are trying to cooperate to develop together technologies, also to commercialise technologies, make production here in India, and to market. And this is a very important effort for us as we try to grow our technological exports and technological prowess around the world," he said.

The expansion of AI weaponry

Activists in India who have been organising against their government's complicity in Israel's war on Gaza, said it was an outrage that weapon collaborations between the two countries were still taking place, given the unprecedented horrors that continue to take place in Gaza, as well as in the occupied West Bank and Lebanon.  

That the partnerships were now moving into the dystopian hemisphere of AI in which there was even more ambiguity as well as space for even more mass murder, seemed unthinkable.

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"It is very disheartening to see the people in India who are concerned about the genocide happening in Gaza are not able to do anything substantial to stop it," an activist, who asked to remain anonymous over fear of reprisals, told MEE.

Observers note that Arbel was likely part of a broader trend in defence where AI is increasingly being integrated into weapons systems across the globe at a startling rate.

They say that it is likely more AI-based systems are being co-developed, extending to possibly including drones, surveillance technologies, and more advanced autonomous systems that would be exported worldwide.

It is this fear that has led activists monitoring the expansion of big tech to caution against underestimating India's role as a future hub of AI weapons manufacturing.

Loewenstein says that until there are legal ramifications for the killing of mass killings of civilians, these so-called AI tools are only going to proliferate.

"Given that India is already Israel's biggest buyer of weapons - the official stats suggest 40 percent to 45 percent though my guess is that the real number is higher - I am worried that this tool will be used by Indian soldiers within its own borders or for that matter exported globally," Loewenstein said. 

"I'd be worried that this kind of tool would be exported to other regimes and governments - democratic or despotic - who will use it for their own nefarious ends," Loewenstein added.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-india-ai-weapon-arbel-gaza-war

The 49 times the US used veto power against UN resolutions on Israel

 In the past year alone, Washington has vetoed four Security Council resolutions calling for a Gaza ceasefire

US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield votes on a resolution regarding Israel's war on Gaza at a Security Council meeting on 18 October 2023 in New York.
US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, votes on a resolution regarding Israel's war on Gaza at a Security Council meeting, in New York City on 18 October 2023 (Bryan R Smith/AFP)

The United States on Wednesday vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, marking the 49th time the US has used its veto power against Israel-related UN Security Council draft resolutions.

The draft resolution was brought forth by the 10 elected members of the Security Council, and every member except for the US voted in favour of the measure.

The veto marked over a year of US diplomatic cover provided to Israel as it continues to wage its war on Gaza, which last month was expanded with Israel's invasion of Lebanon.

However, this diplomatic support for Israel from Washington is nothing new and has been taking place on a bipartisan basis for decades.

In addition to giving Israel around $3bn in military aid each year, the US has also been Israel’s biggest ally in the international body and has often used its veto power at the Security Council to block diplomatic measures targeting Israel for its treatment of Palestinians.

Veto number one

According to the Jewish Virtual Library, the US has used its veto power 48 other times against draft Security Council resolutions pertaining to Israel since it first began using it in 1970.

The first, resolution S/10784, expressed deep concern “at the deteriorating situation in the Middle East” and was aimed at Israeli aggression on the Lebanese border.

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Drafted by Guinea, the former country of Yugoslavia, and Somalia, the US was the only country to veto the resolution. Panama abstained from the vote.

Several similar resolutions were also vetoed by the US in subsequent years. In 1975, the year civil war broke out in Lebanon, resolution S/11898 called on “Israel to desist forthwith from all military attacks against Lebanon”. Again, the US was the only veto.

In 1982, the year which saw some of the fiercest Israeli assaults against Lebanon, Spain presented a draft resolution which demanded Israel “withdraw all its military forces forthwith and unconditionally to the internationally recognized boundaries of Lebanon” within six hours. The US vetoed it.

The US vetoed similar resolutions in 1985, 1986 and 1988. The Lebanese civil war ended in 1990, but Israel did not withdraw from the south of the country until the year 2000.

Jerusalem

The final status issue of Jerusalem, which the Oslo Accords stipulated would be discussed only in the latter stages of any peace deal between Israel and Palestine, has long been the target of the US veto at the UN.

Draft resolution S/12022, introduced in 1976, called on Israel to protect the “Holy Places which are under its occupation”.

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It said it was “Deeply concerned further at the measures taken by the Israeli authorities leading to the present grave situation including measures aimed at changing the physical, cultural, demographic and religious character of the occupied territories.”

The US was the only country to vote against the draft text.

In 1982, Morocco, Iran, Jordan, and Uganda presented a draft resolution after an Israeli soldier shot at worshippers, killing at least two, within the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in Jerusalem.

It called upon “the occupying Power (Israel) to observe and apply scrupulously the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the principles of international law governing military occupation and to refrain from causing any hindrance to the discharge of the established functions of the Higher Islamic Council in Jerusalem.”

Referring to Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in the Old City of Jerusalem, the text referred to the site as “one of the holiest places of mankind”.

It described the “unique status of Jerusalem and, in particular, the need for protection and preservation of the spiritual and religious dimension of the Holy Places in the city”.

A further draft text calling on Israel to respect Muslim holy places was vetoed by the US in 1986.

Palestine

In 1976, the US vetoed a resolution calling on Israel to withdraw from all Palestinian territories - in this case, the UK, Sweden, and Italy abstained.

Tunisia's draft text, presented in 1980, stressed the “inalienable rights of the Palestinian people”. The US voted against it, and the UK, France, Norway, and Portugal abstained.

Resolutions condemning Israeli settlements, considered illegal under international law, were blocked only by the US in 1983, 1997 and 2011.

In 2004 and 2006, the US refused to call on Israel to halt wars against Gaza, which together killed hundreds of civilians.

Obama’s last stand

In late 2016, following the election of Donald Trump but before he took office, the US administration of former President Barack Obama abstained from a vote on Israeli settlements. 

It was the first time in four decades that a UN resolution condemning Israel had passed.

This was despite the US using its veto against a similar vote in 2011, and the only time the Obama administration had wielded its veto during his presidency.

Citing the lack of any visible progress in terms of the peace process, US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said, “One cannot simultaneously champion expanding Israeli settlements and champion a viable two-state solution that would end the conflict. One had to make a choice between settlements and separation.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was a “shameful” move by the US.

Trump attacks UN

The previous Trump administration ushered in a new era of pro-Israel diplomacy at the UN.

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In June 2018, the US withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council, accusing it of having a "chronic bias" against Israel.

The Trump administration also vetoed several UN resolutions regarding Israel.

On 19 December 2017, the US vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution that rejected Trump's move to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Several months later, in June 2018, the US vetoed a Kuwait-drafted measure that condemned Israel's use of force against Palestinian civilians. Israeli forces had killed dozens of peaceful protesters in Gaza during the March of Return protests.

Like in many other cases, the US was the sole dissenter against the measure.

Israel's war on Gaza

On 7 October 2023, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups in Gaza launched a surprise attack on southern Israel, killing around 1,140 people and taking an additional 240 people hostage.

Israel responded with full-fledged war and launched a devastating aerial bombing campaign, followed by a full ground invasion of Gaza. So far, Israeli forces have killed more than 44,000 Palestinians, according to the official death toll reported by the Palestinian health ministry. 

However, other conservative estimates place the death toll much higher, with one study published in the Lancet journal estimating that the death toll could be upwards of 186,000 people.

Since the beginning of the war, members of the Security Council have tried introducing resolutions calling for a ceasefire and an end to the fighting in Gaza.

However, these efforts have been blocked on numerous occasions by the US. Since the war began, Washington has blocked four different resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Additionally, the US has blocked a resolution aimed at recognising Palestine as a full member of the United Nations.

Many world leaders have denounced US efforts to block a call for a ceasefire at the international body, and Washington's western allies have also expressed regret at the failure to pass these measures.


https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/49-times-us-has-used-veto-power-against-un-resolutions-israel


36 Killed in Israeli Attack on Ancient Syrian City of Palmyra

 

Syrian army soldiers were among the wounded in strike


 November 20, 2024 at 1:14 pm ET 

In one of the deadliest Israeli attacks on Syria in over a year, Israeli warplanes attacked the ancient city of Palmyra today. Syrian state media has reported so far that 36 were killed and at least 50 were wounded in the strike.

The airstrikes hit residential buildings as well as the industrial area of the city. It is not at all clear what the intended target was, and Israel has not commented on the matter. At least nine Syrian soldiers were reported wounded in the strikes.

Multiple ambulances were reported rushing to and from the scene, taking survivors to the Tadmur Hospital in the city. Doubtless the large number of casualties will be a struggle for the hospital to handle, especially as the number continues to rise.

Palmyra is primarily known for its ancient Mesopotamian temple complex, originally centering on the Temple of Bel. The temple itself was demolished by ISIS in 2015. After Syria’s army reclaimed the city in 2017, long-term plans were made to eventually restore the site. It is not clear if the site was further damaged in today’s strikes.

With ISIS no longer in the city, Palmyra hasn’t seemed a likely target for Israeli strikes. Though Israel has been attacking Syria nearly daily this month, most strikes have been further west, centering around Damascus and the Homs Province.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed the strikes targeted an area occupied by families of Iraqi fighters. Israel isn’t strictly at war with any Iraqi groups, but such factions are Shi’ites, and Israel has been targeting Shi’ites in multiple countries across the region.

https://news.antiwar.com/2024/11/20/36-killed-in-israeli-attack-on-ancient-syrian-city-of-palmyra/

The Real Israel

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCykBvgQe1M