Archiv: Mati Kochavi


04.04.2023 - 21:06 [ Middle East Eye ]

Abu Dhabi announces launch of Israeli-installed mass surveillance system

(15 July 2016)

The Internet of Things applies unique identifiers to objects, or in the case of Abu Dhabi, people to be followed, and provides large amounts of data on all aspects of an individual’s movements and activities based on the surveillance equipment used. Tools for the collection of data include all manner of devices, from cameras on the street to smart devices connected to the internet.

“Every person is monitored from the moment they leave their doorstep to the moment they return to it. Their work, social and behavioural patterns are recorded, analysed and archived,” a source close to the project told MEE at the time.

20.08.2019 - 18:22 [ Haaretz ]

Mysterious Israeli Businessman Behind Mega-deal to Supply Spy Planes to UAE

The fact that there are no diplomatic ties between Israel and the UAE and other Persian Gulf countries has not prevented the shared interests of the countries in the region to forge an extensive unofficial relationship, including in business, military and political spheres. In the case of Israel and the Gulf states, one main shared interest is their mutual enemy: Iran.

20.08.2019 - 18:18 [ Middle East Monitor ]

Israel businessman behind UAE spy plane deal

However, as Haaretz points out, “it is interesting to discover that Israel’s name is totally absent from the hundreds of thousands of words describing the transaction in detail. The only mention of the country is in one document originating in Switzerland that describes the structure of AGT. It mentions in German that Kochavi is an Israeli citizen.”

The Israeli daily also notes that this deal is not Kochavi’s first project on behalf of the UAE, pointing to the installation of thousands of cameras, sensors and license-plate readers in Abu Dhabi in a bid to turn the capital into a “smart city”.