by JUDY HAIVEN
With all the talk about a ceasefire in Lebanon, the following news about AI (artificial intelligence) may have got lost. The Israelis and their supporters like to laugh about the thousands left severely injured or blinded and the dozens killed in Lebanon in late September when Israel detonated tens of thousands of pagers at one time. Quite a joke! Or when Israel programmed implosions of thousands of walkie-talkies which killed 20 and seriously injured another 450 in Lebanon. Israel suspected the pagers and walkie-talkies belonged to Hizbollah ‘militants’. So were the killings and maimings justified? Really?
And who are the ‘militants’? For example, 7% of Israelis are in the reserves (compared to only 0.5% of US citizens in their own country) and are required to do military service every year. Are the reservists ‘militants’? No one calls Israeli fighters that – but they are. Who says who is a ‘militant’ – obviously the victors in any struggle get to call whom they like ‘militants’?
But were children with pagers in their backpacks, hospital doctors with pagers in their pockets, politicians who had pagers, men on construction sites with walkie-talkies– were they all, ‘militants’? Israel would have us believe they were. But there were thousands of civilian victims of the pager and the walkie-talkie explosions. The Israelis wanted to show us all how clever they were – they can create war and death. Yet they use gallows’ humour to justify their reliance on AI to simultaneously blind and cause children’s and adults’ fingers to be amputated.
Who is a ‘militant’ in Gaza?
Is everyone that Israel targets a ‘militant’? Clearly not. We see that from what happened with the utter destruction of Gaza. Yet Israel insists that every male in Gaza is a ‘militant‘ and a target for death. And what about his family? Are they ‘militants’ too – from babies to school children to the elderly all targets for death? Killing them amounts to war crimes. To kill 100 civilians in an effort to kill one man – does not mean the man is a ‘militant’. Maybe he is just a father or grandfather – killing him is a war crime. If Israel targets any and all men for death, that too is a war crime.
Israel’s war on Gaza, is aided and abetted by AI (artificial intelligence). AI powers three different programs that generate and pinpoint targets for assassination in Gaza.
Right after 7 Oct 2023, Lavender targeted 37,000 Palestinians as suspected ‘militants’ and targeted them and their homes and families for potential air strikes.
Yet Israel insists that every male in Gaza is a ‘militant‘ and a target for death. And what about his family? Are they ‘militants’ too?
Judy Haiven for more