With advanced spy systems, How does Israel help European governments suppress their people?

Israel is one of the main suppliers of advanced spy systems to European governments, which are used to repress people and illegally prosecute opponents.

Since the start of the Israeli aggression on Gaza, French cities have witnessed protest marches in support of the Palestinian people and denouncing the bias of the Macron government towards Israel. On the other hand, the French police faced these demonstrations by first banning them, and then with fierce repression when the protesters insisted on going out, launching a massive arrest campaign and pursuing the participants with financial fines.

Drones played a major role in follow-up operations, as they were used by security personnel to photograph demonstrations from the air “to prevent events that would harm public security,” according to a memorandum published by the Chief of the Metropolitan Police, while there are doubts about relying on facial recognition systems in,Analysis of those captured images, which has not been confirmed yet.

On the other hand, in its latest investigation , the journalistic organization Disclose revealed that the French police secretly used an advanced artificial intelligence system for facial recognition, which it had obtained from Israel. This was even before any law was issued allowing it to use these systems, making its work illegal.

This is not the first time that Israel has provided European governments with spy and facial recognition systems. Rather, the Hebrew state is considered the most important supplier of such systems to European governments, which use them to suppress the people and pursue opponents.

French police and facial recognition systems

For years, the French Interior Ministry has been seeking to introduce facial recognition systems into its security arsenal, justifying this by the security services’ need for this tool when confronting various threats. But it did not receive the approval of lawmakers until last July, claiming that it was needed to secure the 2024 Paris Olympics.

However, for the French Interior Ministry, this approval was only a formality, as it had been using an Israeli facial recognition system since 2015 without any legal basis for that use, according to what was revealed by investigations by the Disclose organization.

According to secret French Interior Ministry documents, obtained by Disclose, the French police have been using the Israeli Briefcam facial recognition system for eight years. This system allows facial analysis and tracking of a person on a network of cameras, and vehicles can be tracked using their license plate or several hours of video clips can be examined in a few minutes.

The French Interior chose to try this Israeli program first through the Directorate of Public Security (DDSP) in the Seine-et-Marne region. Two years later, in 2017, it was rolled out more widely, with the program being provided to police agencies in the Rhone, Nord, Alpes-Maritimes and Haute-Garonne regions.

In addition to this, this system was also used by the Technical Services Assistance Unit (SIAT) of the French Internal Intelligence, which usually carries out espionage operations, monitoring phones, and hacking suspects’ data.

The French Ministry of the Interior maintained complete secrecy regarding its use of this program, despite making extensive use of it, as an informed source revealed to Disclose. The source added that this use is taking place without monitoring or judicial permission, as “any policeman working in a service equipped with the system can request the use of Briefcam when submitting a video or photo.”

How does Israel help European governments oppress their people?

France is not an anomaly on the Old Continent, as European governments have regularly acquired spy and facial recognition systems from Israel, and used them to pursue and hack the data of activists and political opponents.

In Greece in 2021, the government eavesdropped on the calls of the leader of the leftist opposition Movement for Change coalition for three consecutive months, and it also hacked the phones of two other opposition journalists using the Israeli Predator spy program, in a scandal dubbed in the media as the Greek Watergate .

As United Reporters revealed in June 2022, Greek intelligence chief Grigoris Dimitriadis had indirect business dealings with the company that owns the Predator program through an agent to monitor opposition politicians .

At the beginning of last October, press investigations revealed that the Israeli company Intellexa, which manufactured the Predator spyware, had taken Athens as a center for its international activity.

Intellexa was founded by a former Israeli army officer named Tal Delian, and today it is considered the most active company of its kind in the European space, with offices in Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and France. Its Predator program also has many European clients, including Austria, Germany and Switzerland, according to Amnesty International.

In 2022, many accusations were made about the governments of Hungary, Poland, and Spain using the Pegasus program to spy on their citizens, which is manufactured by the Israeli company NSO.

Dutchwoman Sophie Veld said , in a report she submitted to the European Parliament on the use of Pegasus, that this use is “an inseparable element of the system designed to control and even repress citizens , and it can target any critic of the government, opposition figures, journalists, and those reporting government violations. ”

An American military plane veers off the runway and falls into the sea

Hawaii News Now reported that a US Navy reconnaissance plane veered off the runway and ended up in the waters off the coast of Hawaii.

The website added: “A large US Navy plane ended up in the shallow waters of Kaneohe Bay after it left the runway at a naval base in Hawaii.”

According to site sources, the plane partially fell into the water, and there were nine people on board, all of whom later arrived at the beach with injuries.

And minor bruises.

The website indicated that the accident occurred with a Boeing P8 Poseidon aircraft, designed to carry out surveillance and patrol missions.

There was no comment from the American military establishment about the incident, nor did the site’s news mention the reasons for the incident.