Amnesty International documented how Israel’s AI-powered facial recognition systems are supported by a vast physical infrastructure of surveillance hardware.
The Israeli authorities are using an experimental facial recognition system known as Red Wolf to track Palestinians and automate harsh restrictions on their freedom of movement, Amnesty International said today. In a new report, Automated Apartheid, the organization documents how Red Wolf is part of an ever-growing surveillance network which is entrenching the Israeli government’s control over Palestinians, and which helps to maintain Israel’s system of apartheid. Red Wolf is deployed at military checkpoints in the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, where it scans Palestinians’ faces and adds them to vast surveillance databases without their consent.
Amnesty International also documented how Israel’s use of facial recognition technology against Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem has increased, especially in the wake of protests and in the areas around illegal settlements. In both Hebron and occupied East Jerusalem, facial recognition technology supports a dense network of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras to keep Palestinians under near-constant observation. Automated Apartheid shows how this surveillance is part of a deliberate attempt by Israeli authorities to create a hostile and coercive environment for Palestinians, with the aim of minimizing their presence in strategic areas.
In addition to the constant threat of excessive physical force and arbitrary arrest, Palestinians must now contend with the risk of being tracked by an algorithm, or barred from entering their own neighbourhoods based on information stored in discriminatory surveillance databases.
“The Israeli authorities are using sophisticated surveillance tools to supercharge segregation and automate apartheid against Palestinians. In the H2 area of Hebron, we documented how a new facial recognition system called Red Wolf is reinforcing draconian restrictions on Palestinians’ freedom of movement, using illegitimately acquired biometric data to monitor and control Palestinians’ movements around the city,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.
“Palestinian residents of occupied East Jerusalem and Hebron told us how omnipresent surveillance cameras have invaded their privacy, repressed activism, eroded social life, and left them feeling constantly exposed. In addition to the constant threat of excessive physical force and arbitrary arrest, Palestinians must now contend with the risk of being tracked by an algorithm, or barred from entering their own neighbourhoods based on information stored in discriminatory surveillance databases. This is the latest illustration of why facial recognition technology, when used for surveillance, is incompatible with human rights.”
Amnesty International is calling on Israeli authorities to end the mass and targeted surveillance of Palestinians and lift the arbitrary restrictions they have imposed on Palestinians’ freedom of movement across the OPT, as necessary steps towards dismantling apartheid.
Amnesty International is also calling for a global ban on the development, sale and use of facial recognition technology for surveillance purposes. The organization has recently documented human rights risks linked to facial recognition technology in India and the US, as part of its Ban the Scan campaign.
Automated Apartheid focuses on Hebron and East Jerusalem, the only cities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories with Israeli settlements inside their bounds. The report is based on evidence gathered during 2022 field research, including interviews with Palestinian residents; analysis of open-source material; and testimony from current and former Israeli military personnel. This testimony was provided by the Israeli organization Breaking the Silence, and was used to corroborate Amnesty International’s findings on how Israel’s facial recognition systems operate.
Under a 1997 agreement between Israeli authorities and the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Hebron was divided into two sections, known as H1 and H2. H1, which constitutes 80% of the city, is administered by the Palestinian authorities, while Israel maintains full control over H2, which includes the Old City. Some 33,000 Palestinians live in H2, along with around 800 Israeli settlers who reside illegally across at least seven settlement enclaves.
Palestinian residents of H2 are subjected to draconian movement restrictions. They are barred from accessing certain roads, which are open only to Israeli settlers, and a network of military checkpoints and other obstructions severely impedes their daily lives. Israeli settlers in Hebron travel on different roads to Palestinians, and are not required to use checkpoints.
Automated Apartheid reveals the existence of a previously unreported Israeli military facial recognition system called Red Wolf, which is deployed at checkpoints in Hebron.
There is strong evidence to suggest that Red Wolf is linked with two other military-run surveillance systems, Wolf Pack and Blue Wolf. Wolf Pack is a vast database containing all available information on Palestinians from the OPT, including where they live, who their family members are, and whether they are wanted for questioning by Israeli authorities. Blue Wolf is an app which Israeli forces can access via smartphones and tablets, and which can instantly pull up the information stored in the Wolf Pack database.