(October 29, 2024)
Delays in the Palestine investigation trace back to 2015 when former ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda initiated a preliminary examination. Although the investigation met the necessary criteria in 2019, it was postponed due to jurisdiction debates over Palestinian territories. The formal investigation began in March 2021, yet no meaningful progress has been made, further delaying requests against Netanyahu and Gallant.
(May 28, 2024)
Thanks to their comprehensive access to Palestinian telecoms infrastructure, the sources said, intelligence operatives could capture the calls without installing spyware on the ICC official’s devices.
“If Fatou Bensouda spoke to any person in the West Bank or Gaza, then that phone call would enter [intercept] systems,” one source said. Another said there was no hesitation internally over spying on the prosecutor, adding: “With Bensouda, she’s black and African, so who cares?”
The surveillance system did not capture calls between ICC officials and anyone outside Palestine. However, multiple sources said the system required the active selection of the overseas phone numbers of ICC officials whose calls Israeli intelligence agencies decided to listen to.
According to one Israeli source, a large whiteboard in an Israeli intelligence department contained the names of about 60 people under surveillance – half of them Palestinians and half from other countries, including UN officials and ICC personnel.
In The Hague, Bensouda and her senior staff were alerted by security advisers and via diplomatic channels that Israel was monitoring their work.
Hamad was reporting on the new Israeli incursion just moments before he was killed.
A colleague with access to his account on X said that Hamad had been sending videos about the assault late into the night.
During their last phone call at 6am (3am GMT), Hamad said: “There they are. There they are. It’s over.”
A few months before his killing, Hamad shared a screenshot with his colleagues of a threatening WhatsApp message he received from an Israeli number.
The message read: “Listen… If you continue spreading lies about Israel, we‘ll come for you next and turn your family into… This is your last warning.”
(November 30, 2023)
The document circulated widely among Israeli military and intelligence leaders, but experts determined that an attack of that scale and ambition was beyond Hamas’s capabilities, according to documents and officials. It is unclear whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other top political leaders saw the document, as well.
(…)
Last year, shortly after the document was obtained, officials in the Israeli military’s Gaza division, which is responsible for defending the border with Gaza, said that Hamas’s intentions were unclear.
“It is not yet possible to determine whether the plan has been fully accepted and how it will be manifested,” read a military assessment reviewed by The Times.
The Israeli officials did not disclose the nature of the information that led them to be concerned about potential I.C.C. action, and the court did not comment on the matter.
Arrest warrants from the court would probably be seen in much of the world as a humbling moral rebuke, particularly to Israel, which for months has faced international backlash over its conduct in Gaza, including from President Biden, who called it “over the top.”
(December 27, 2022)
Haaretz continued:
Twenty years on, this is no longer the stuff of movies: Toka‘s tech allows clients to do just that and more—not just diverting a live feed but also altering old feeds and erasing any evidence of a covert op.
Technical documents reviewed by an ethical hacker prove that Toka‘s tech can alter both live and recorded video feeds—all without leaving any forensics or telltale signs of a hack (in contrast to NSO‘s Pegasus spyware, or Intellexa‘s Predator, which leave a digital fingerprint on targeted devices).
(December 27, 2022)
Co-founded by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) cyber chief Yaron Rosen, Toka “sells technologies that allow clients to locate security cameras or even webcams within a given perimeter, hack into them, watch their live feed, and even alter it — and past recordings,” Haaretz reported, citing internal documents it obtained and reviewed with a technical expert.
The company, whose activities are overseen by the Israeli Defense Ministry, “was set up in 2018 and has offices in Tel Aviv and Washington,” Haaretz reported.
(December 23, 2022)
According to a company pitch deck obtained by Haaretz, Toka offers what it terms “previously out-of-reach capabilities” that “transform untapped IoT sensors into intelligence sources,” and can be used “for intelligence and operational needs.” (IoT stands for Internet of Things and refers here to web-connected cameras and even car media systems.)
(July 15, 2018)
Coming out of stealth Monday, Tel Aviv-based Toka says it‘ll provide spy tools for whatever device its clients require. But while it‘ll try to hack devices like Apple iPhones, it has a special focus on the so-called Internet of Things (IoT), covering tech like Amazon Echo, Nest connected home products, as well as connected fridges, thermostats and alarms. (…)
Two of Toka’s investors, Dell Technologies Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, for instance, have put millions of dollars into defensive companies beforehand. (The other seed investors are Entrée Capital, Launch Capital and Ray Rothrock, CEO of cyber-analytics firm RedSeal).
Giora Eiland, a retired Israeli major general, serves on the board of directors of Corsight …. He wrote: ‘The entire population of #Gaza will either move to #Egypt or move to the Gulf.’
The retired general also recommended targeting civilian vehicles in Gaza.” #writingcommunity
(12. November 2016)
Aus Interviews mit AussteigerInnen der mutmaßlich eng mit den Mitgliedern und Mitgliedern der “Technischen Aufklärung” des Bundesnachrichtendienstes eingebetteten israelischen Einheit 8200, veröffentlicht im “Guardian” im September 2014:
“Ich nahm eine Funktion an, in der Leute ´Ziele´ genannt wurden, und diese Leute die uns wirklich interessieren sind in keinem Sinne Terroristen, sondern eher generell normale Menschen – die uns interessieren wegen ihrer Funktionen, so dass wir mehr Geheimdienstinformationen über sie bekommen können und mehr Zugang erzielen. Wir nutzen unsere Möglichkeiten über diese Menschen zu unserem Vorteil, um es uns leicht zu machen. Wir nutzen die Einwirkung / die Wucht (“impact) die wir auf deren Leben haben. Manchmal beinhaltet dies das Leben, oder die Seele einer Person wirklich zu verletzen. Ich meine Erpressung, bei Dingen die sie vor Leuten um sich herum verbergen müssen. Ich kann Menschen wirklich das Leben zerstören. Es gab mir das Gefühl omnipotent zu sein.
Als ich diesen Job begann, war ich überrascht von dem Ausmaß meiner Verantwortung. Ich hatte das Gefühl über wichtige Dinge ein Mitspracherecht zu haben. Ich konnte Dinge in Gang setzen, die das Leben (Anm.: es folgt die Bezeichnung der ausspionierten Ortsansässigen) betrafen – ich konnte meine Einheit dazu bringen alle möglichen Maßnahmen zu ergreifen. Die Einstellung war ´Warum nicht? Wir können, also lasst es uns tun.´ Ich dachte, dass das, was ich tun konnte verrückt war. Wir waren die Chefs.”
Ein ex-Spion von 8200 berichtet, wie Soldaten unter seiner Ausbildung systematisch moralisch korrumpiert wurden, um sie zu “vergiften” und die Skrupellosigkeit im Apparat weiter auf Standard zu halten. Bei Razzien “beschlagnahmte” persönliche Gegenstände von Individuen – “Photos von Kindern, Uhren, Familienfotos, Fussballtrophäen, Bücher”, bis hin zu Juwelen – wurden nicht nur zur Mitnahme angeboten, sondern in den Ausbildungsräumen zur Schau gestellt.
“Die Idee war die Auszubildenden (“students”) zu vergiften.“
(…)
“Die einzige Schlussfolgerung die gezogen wurde, dass es in dieser Einheit so etwas wie einen illegalen Befehl nicht gibt. Es sind nicht wir, die entscheiden was moralisch ist und was nicht. Heute erkenne ich, dass dies das ist, was auch der Bomberpilot sagt: `Es ist nicht an mir zu sagen was moralisch ist und was nicht.` Jeder reicht die Verantwortung an Andere weiter.”
(Sep 12, 2014)
(March 27, 2024)
The expansive and experimental effort is being used to conduct mass surveillance there, collecting and cataloging the faces of Palestinians without their knowledge or consent, according to Israeli intelligence officers, military officials and soldiers.
The technology was initially used in Gaza to search for Israelis who were taken hostage by Hamas during the Oct. 7 cross-border raids, the intelligence officials said.
(28.03.2024)
There is little complaint from western politicians. Corsight’s complicity isn’t seen as an urgent matter.
Nor, for that matter, do most of these politicians give sufficient attention to Israel’s genocidal policies in Gaza.
Unmentioned by the Times is that Giora Eiland, a retired Israeli major general, serves on the board of directors of Corsight.
When Eiland joined the board in January 2021, Igal Raichelgauz, chairman and founder of the Cortica Group, stated, “We are excited to add Giora to the company board, we believe that due to his extensive experience in the national security field, Corsight will continue growing into new markets and territories and lead the face recognition market in Israel and in the world.” Corsight is a subsidiary of Cortica, a firm focused on artificial intelligence.
Eiland is a proponent of the ethnic cleansing of the occupied territory of Gaza.
Geneva – Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has documented the Israeli army deliberately killing Palestinian civilians, including journalists, as they attempted to access communications and internet services to communicate with their families or employers, by targeting them with sniper or drone attacks in various areas of the Gaza Strip.
At least seven civilians have been killed in the North Gaza Governorate in less than a week after they were directly targeted by Israeli army drones in the Al-Bashir area of Tal Al-Zaatar in Jabalia Camp. The victims were attempting to access internet services to communicate with their families and relatives.
(15.01.2024)
(30.11.2023)
The document circulated widely among Israeli military and intelligence leaders, but experts determined that an attack of that scale and ambition was beyond Hamas’s capabilities, according to documents and officials. It is unclear whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other top political leaders saw the document, as well.
(…)
Last year, shortly after the document was obtained, officials in the Israeli military’s Gaza division, which is responsible for defending the border with Gaza, said that Hamas’s intentions were unclear.
“It is not yet possible to determine whether the plan has been fully accepted and how it will be manifested,” read a military assessment reviewed by The Times.
„The dossier said that Israeli intelligence officers had established the movements of six of the men inside Israel on Oct. 7 based on their phones; others had been monitored while making phone calls inside Gaza during which, the Israelis say, they discussed their involvement in the Hamas attack,“ the NYT report says, referring to a dossier reportedly handed to US officials in recent days.
(…)
The NYT report on Sunday, based on the dossier seen by its reports, made no mention of confessions.
(12. November 2016)
Aus Interviews mit AussteigerInnen der mutmaßlich eng mit den Mitgliedern und Mitgliedern der “Technischen Aufklärung” des Bundesnachrichtendienstes eingebetteten israelischen Einheit 8200, veröffentlicht im “Guardian” im September 2014:
“Ich nahm eine Funktion an, in der Leute ´Ziele´ genannt wurden, und diese Leute die uns wirklich interessieren sind in keinem Sinne Terroristen, sondern eher generell normale Menschen – die uns interessieren wegen ihrer Funktionen, so dass wir mehr Geheimdienstinformationen über sie bekommen können und mehr Zugang erzielen. Wir nutzen unsere Möglichkeiten über diese Menschen zu unserem Vorteil, um es uns leicht zu machen. Wir nutzen die Einwirkung / die Wucht (“impact) die wir auf deren Leben haben. Manchmal beinhaltet dies das Leben, oder die Seele einer Person wirklich zu verletzen. Ich meine Erpressung, bei Dingen die sie vor Leuten um sich herum verbergen müssen. Ich kann Menschen wirklich das Leben zerstören. Es gab mir das Gefühl omnipotent zu sein.
Als ich diesen Job begann, war ich überrascht von dem Ausmaß meiner Verantwortung. Ich hatte das Gefühl über wichtige Dinge ein Mitspracherecht zu haben. Ich konnte Dinge in Gang setzen, die das Leben (Anm.: es folgt die Bezeichnung der ausspionierten Ortsansässigen) betrafen – ich konnte meine Einheit dazu bringen alle möglichen Maßnahmen zu ergreifen. Die Einstellung war ´Warum nicht? Wir können, also lasst es uns tun.´ Ich dachte, dass das, was ich tun konnte verrückt war. Wir waren die Chefs.”
Ein ex-Spion von 8200 berichtet, wie Soldaten unter seiner Ausbildung systematisch moralisch korrumpiert wurden, um sie zu “vergiften” und die Skrupellosigkeit im Apparat weiter auf Standard zu halten. Bei Razzien “beschlagnahmte” persönliche Gegenstände von Individuen – “Photos von Kindern, Uhren, Familienfotos, Fussballtrophäen, Bücher”, bis hin zu Juwelen – wurden nicht nur zur Mitnahme angeboten, sondern in den Ausbildungsräumen zur Schau gestellt.
“Die Idee war die Auszubildenden (“students”) zu vergiften.“
(…)
“Die einzige Schlussfolgerung die gezogen wurde, dass es in dieser Einheit so etwas wie einen illegalen Befehl nicht gibt. Es sind nicht wir, die entscheiden was moralisch ist und was nicht. Heute erkenne ich, dass dies das ist, was auch der Bomberpilot sagt: `Es ist nicht an mir zu sagen was moralisch ist und was nicht.` Jeder reicht die Verantwortung an Andere weiter.”
(Sep 12, 2014)
(November 30, 2023)
“Nothing happens by accident,” said another source. “When a 3-year-old girl is killed in a home in Gaza, it’s because someone in the army decided it wasn’t a big deal for her to be killed — that it was a price worth paying in order to hit [another] target. We are not Hamas. These are not random rockets. Everything is intentional. We know exactly how much collateral damage there is in every home.”
According to the investigation, another reason for the large number of targets, and the extensive harm to civilian life in Gaza, is the widespread use of a system called “Habsora” (“The Gospel”), which is largely built on artificial intelligence and can “generate” targets almost automatically at a rate that far exceeds what was previously possible. This AI system, as described by a former intelligence officer, essentially facilitates a “mass assassination factory.”
(30.11.2023)
The document circulated widely among Israeli military and intelligence leaders, but experts determined that an attack of that scale and ambition was beyond Hamas’s capabilities, according to documents and officials. It is unclear whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other top political leaders saw the document, as well.
(…)
Last year, shortly after the document was obtained, officials in the Israeli military’s Gaza division, which is responsible for defending the border with Gaza, said that Hamas’s intentions were unclear.
“It is not yet possible to determine whether the plan has been fully accepted and how it will be manifested,” read a military assessment reviewed by The Times.
(November 30, 2023)
“Nothing happens by accident,” said another source. “When a 3-year-old girl is killed in a home in Gaza, it’s because someone in the army decided it wasn’t a big deal for her to be killed — that it was a price worth paying in order to hit [another] target. We are not Hamas. These are not random rockets. Everything is intentional. We know exactly how much collateral damage there is in every home.”
According to the investigation, another reason for the large number of targets, and the extensive harm to civilian life in Gaza, is the widespread use of a system called “Habsora” (“The Gospel”), which is largely built on artificial intelligence and can “generate” targets almost automatically at a rate that far exceeds what was previously possible. This AI system, as described by a former intelligence officer, essentially facilitates a “mass assassination factory.”
(30.11.2023)
Their investigation is „based on conversations with seven current and former members of Israel’s intelligence community — including military intelligence and air force personnel who were involved in Israeli operations in the besieged Strip — in addition to Palestinian testimonies, data, and documentation from the Gaza Strip, and official statements by the IDF Spokesperson and other Israeli state institutions.“
The document circulated widely among Israeli military and intelligence leaders, but experts determined that an attack of that scale and ambition was beyond Hamas’s capabilities, according to documents and officials. It is unclear whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other top political leaders saw the document, as well.
(…)
Last year, shortly after the document was obtained, officials in the Israeli military’s Gaza division, which is responsible for defending the border with Gaza, said that Hamas’s intentions were unclear.
“It is not yet possible to determine whether the plan has been fully accepted and how it will be manifested,” read a military assessment reviewed by The Times.
(01.12.2023 16:29 Uhr)
Laut New York Times war der Bericht weiten Kreisen der israelischen Sicherheitskräfte zugänglich – neben den Angriffsplänen habe er auch geheime Informationen über die israelische Armee und deren Kommunikation enthalten. Wie die Hamas an solch sicherheitsrelevante Informationen kommen konnte, sei unklar.
2. In 2011, the Israeli gov‘t shared a YouTube video by a man who claimed to be an Israeli gay rights activist who said he was discriminated against by Gaza flotilla organizers. The video was exposed as a hoax and @jonronson set out to find the actor in
3. 3. The actor refused to say who made the video but as I reported at the time it was boosted by @DavidSaranga an Israeli diplomat who taught students to promote Israel online with guerrilla marketing. Saranga is now director of digital diplomacy @IsraelMFA.
4. As @marcowenjones reports, the anti-Hamas video supposedly recorded in a Gaza hospital this week was shared by an official Israeli government account for communicating with Arabic speakers — before being deleted amid widespread suspicion that it was fake.
(16.10.2023)
In the IDF‘s command bunker, experts from various units of the IDF‘s Psychological Operations (PsyOps) are working around the clock. They closely monitor the prevailing mood and public discourse and react accordingly to raise awareness and, most importantly, to influence the worldviews of millions of people. Sometimes it succeeds, and sometimes it doesn‘t. But the insight in the Israeli security establishment is that this arena cannot be left without a response and without proper, continuous handling.
„I have heard suggestions that Herzl Halevi should resign – he should not do that, or the government would appoint an ally or ‚yes-man,’” Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, the former head of Aman, Israel’s military intelligence directorate, told Army Radio.
„The citizens of Israel should be praying that he stays at the helm, and he must hold on as long as his conscience is in place,” he continued.
„As elected public representatives and commanders, you have a duty to demonstrate leadership and spirit in this critical hour, to stop the hastiness, and to foster a broad social and public consensus on fundamental issues related to the nature of the State of Israel,“ the officers stated. „This is our warning, do not ignore it.“
Gallant is trying to delay the Knesset vote on a crucial piece of the judicial overhaul legislation planned for next week, out of concern that proceeding with the plan to weaken the judiciary will harm military readiness.
The announcement came as reservists from the Israel Air Force’s elite Shaldag unit said they would stop volunteering for duty, citing “the anti-democratic regime coup” being advanced by the coalition.
They joined reservists from other Israel Defense Forces units, including the 8200 Intelligence Unit, the Medical Corps, operational units and cyberwarfare units, who said a day earlier that they would stop volunteering.
Laut Aussagen des Unternehmens wird die Software allein an Regierungen vertrieben, um sie bei der Bekämpfung von Kriminalität und Terrorismus zu unterstützen. Doch die Recherchen des Mediennetzwerks haben ein Spionagesystem aufgedeckt, mit dem mehr als 65 Länder die Smartphones von Journalisten, Anwälten, Menschenrechtsaktivisten, Staatschefs und politischen Gegnern auf der ganzen Welt ausspähten. Die Autorin des Dokumentarfilms hat die Journalistinnen und Journalisten des Pegasus-Projekts exklusiv über Monate während ihrer Recherchen begleitet. Sie prangern autoritäre Entwicklungen in vielen Staaten sowie Eingriffe in die Privatsphäre der gehackten Personen an.
Laut Aussagen des Unternehmens wird die Software allein an Regierungen vertrieben, um sie bei der Bekämpfung von Kriminalität und Terrorismus zu unterstützen. Doch die Recherchen des Mediennetzwerks haben ein Spionagesystem aufgedeckt, mit dem mehr als 65 Länder die Smartphones von Journalisten, Anwälten, Menschenrechtsaktivisten, Staatschefs und politischen Gegnern auf der ganzen Welt ausspähten. Die Autorin des Dokumentarfilms hat die Journalistinnen und Journalisten des Pegasus-Projekts exklusiv über Monate während ihrer Recherchen begleitet. Sie prangern autoritäre Entwicklungen in vielen Staaten sowie Eingriffe in die Privatsphäre der gehackten Personen an.
The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit also intended to use social media influencers in order to sway Israeli public opinion.
It is unclear if the IDF paid the Instagram account holders for their services. According to a source familiar with the inner workings of the unit, this is not the only time such cooperation has taken place.