From the River to the Sea. Ibaitik Itsasora

@tobararbulu # mmt@tobararbulu

16 h

ooo

How is Israel’s military tech marketed abroad? | The Palestine Laboratory E2 | Featured Documentary

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pPQydBGwQY)

In Episode 2 of “The Palestine Laboratory”, journalist and author Antony Loewenstein investigates how surveillance and military technology developed by Israel and tested on Palestinians is marketed abroad. He finds out how the latest Israeli technology is being used to monitor refugees and migrants in Greece and along the US-Mexico border.

Loewenstein visits Mexico to explore its use of Israeli spyware and travels to India to find out how a thriving arms trade is fostering close links between the two nations. In South Africa, he uncovers a hidden aspect of the country’s history which saw a secret relationship between the apartheid-era government and Israel centred on a clandestine arms trade and shared values.

What he reveals is a picture of how the “technology of occupation” developed on Palestinians is also used to subjugate people and surveil political dissidents, human rights defenders and journalists all over the world.

Loewenstein concludes by asking if the countries buying these systems are actually looking for more than just another weapon, but instead buying into a wider ideology of the separation and control of “unwanted” populations, be they protesting farmers, political dissidents, or refugees.

Transkripzioa:

0:03

[Music]

0:25

in the first episode we looked at how Israel’s arms and surveillance industry uses its occupation of Palestine as a

0:32

laboratory to test products that then sells around the world in this episode I’m visiting some

0:39

of those customers to see what exactly gets exported is it just weapons and technology or something more

0:53

profound we’re in Tucson Arizona and it is searingly hot that can smell the

1:00

freedom here but that much vaunted Freedom needs regular enforcement especially as we’re right on the border

1:07

with Mexico since 2021 more than 6 million refugees and migrants have been

1:13

detained Crossing into the USA Overland driven by collapsing economies violence

1:18

and climate change one thing that’s really clear is that what Israel has been doing for

1:25

decades in Palestine is very attractive to people who are trying to secure the the US Mexico border so the technology

1:32

and the companies who are operating in Palestine are often appearing other countries around the world including

1:39

right here on the US Mexico [Music] border but first to understand what it

1:45

means to cross the border here I’m heading into the desert to meet Joel Smith he describes the challenges facing

1:53

the migrants the object is to get get to the Tucson area and get out of here get out

2:00

of the desert itself so the what they have a choice of now is going across the

2:06

mountains to avoid border patrol they don’t like the inaccessible areas you can’t get to without a vehicle the US

2:12

Mexico crossing is the deadliest land route for refugees in the world with over 600 deaths recorded in

2:20

2022 and the more remote the route the more dangerous it is how’s it look little bit dirty

2:30

usually they come from uh places where they really don’t understand deserts right they think there’s going to be a

2:37

stream they think there’s going to be a creek somewhere they can get get water from there’s absolutely nothing here

2:43

right but people aren’t dying of starvation out here they’re dying at

2:50

TH and what forces people to take these precarious roots of course is the famous

2:55

wall along the border with Mexico in Arizona illegal traffic

3:02

dropped 92% if you really want to find out how effective a wall is just ask

3:08

Israel this section predates president Trump but under his first Administration

3:14

Israeli firm Ela was paid half a million dollars to come up with prototypes for

3:19

his dream of a coast to coast wall what we see here is the physical fence we

3:25

don’t see huge amounts of surveillance technology but we know it’s here there are very parts of this border which use

3:31

Israeli made Elbert surveillance towers and now we’re going to look for

3:37

those surveillance towers and we’re going to speak to one of the world’s experts about it Todd Miller is a journalist who’s been studying the US

3:44

Mexico border for over 15 years he’s taking me to see one of the 55 Israeli

3:50

Elbert surveillance Towers dotted across this landscape they’re actually working

3:55

together and that’s that’s why they call this the virtual wall right these towers are equipped with night vision cameras

4:03

that that could see at least 7.5 miles away um Regular cameras thermal energy

4:09

cameras and a ground sweeping radar system that supposedly has a uh 13 mile

4:16

radius probably we’re standing on underground motion sensors so if you are walking and you step on one it sends off

4:23

a beeping sound in like the command and control center where they’re watching

4:28

the video feeds then they’re able to zoom in like say they see somebody walking on the hill or us or US they

4:36

might be zooming in right on us at this at this very moment on one visit here a

4:42

border patrol agent boasted to him that just seeing the towers on the hill forc

4:47

migrants to take more remote routes and then he said well then we go to what is

4:52

a choke point and we intercept the people when they come through the choke point there’s a correlation between

4:59

people dying and these towers that work in tandem with the actual border

5:06

wall I’m with the San Diego Sheriff’s Department I’m the homeland security director for the state of Alabama

5:13

American law enforcement has been turning to Israel for training and Equipment since 911 what is happening

5:19

this evening is a compelling chapter in the war on terror tonight’s meeting is the

5:25

culmination of a week in which top American law enforcement officials traveled to Israel to meet their

5:32

counterparts and that relationship has boosted sales of Israel’s so-called Homeland Security

5:38

technology the Arizona police are among many US forces using the services of Israeli company celebrite this allows

5:46

them to extract all the data from mobiles in their possession without a

5:52

password and the Border has been patrolled by a heres 450 drone also made

5:58

by Elbert systems this is the promo created in the bid for the towers

6:05

contract phrases like securing the world’s most challenging borders are how the Israeli companies remind customers

6:12

that their products might have been tested in Palestine the tech park at the

6:19

University of Arizona was Keen to get Israeli companies to locate here at the time Elbert was awarded the tower

6:26

contract we are going to meet Bruce Wright who

6:32

used to head the Arizona Tech Park he was a big figure in encouraging Israeli

6:40

companies to come and work here and train so we’re going to meet him in his gated

6:45

[Music] community good to meet you welcome to

6:51

Tucson Elbert is a Israeli based company but they created a US subsidiary and

6:57

they wanted to demonstrate this technology along the Mexico border we jumped on that opportunity because of

7:03

our knowledge and understanding of Israel and what was happening with that technology in Israel they were in some

7:08

ways very far ahead of the United States and trying to use technology to manage their problems whether they be you know

7:15

terrorism or border crossings or whatever it might be National border security is often

7:22

challenged by difficult topographic conditions and vast areas of Interest since Elbert secured the $200 million

7:29

Arizona deal the fixed Towers have made it into the current torchex borders promo Elbert systems has the technology

7:36

knowhow and real world operational experience inte torch X is also used by

7:42

the Israeli Army on the border with Gaza and Coastal protection

7:47

Solutions this is Amy Juan and the co-op Farm in the tono Odum Nation as far as

7:53

the eye can see so yeah we’re pretty special Farm because their land crosses the US Mexico order they have the

8:00

surveillance Towers across their territory it’s a loss of privacy it’s a loss of freedom and if anything it’s not

8:08

just them keeping an eye on movement across the border it’s them keeping an eye on

8:13

us what border patrol presence has done was basically make everybody

8:19

suspect to go from a people and a place that have basically been left alone um

8:26

for centuries to being an occup P militarized Community it is very

8:33

traumatizing what’s been so clear being here in Arizona is that there is not just a direct connection between what’s

8:39

happening in Palestine and here on the US Mexico border in a physical sense but also an ideological sense the perception

8:47

in the US in some parts is that Israel has been successful in managing pushing back

8:54

Palestinians and the same thing can be done here to push people migrants in

8:59

more and more Extreme Ways which inevitably leads to more deaths Mexico is our next destination so

9:06

we’re heading to the Border Town of nogalas which is a major crossing point

9:11

where in the line to cross from the US to Mexico I you have to turn the camera off and you can’t take guns either just

9:17

to keep the authorities happy here we are Mexico City so

9:25

loud this incredible country of 130 million people is renowned for its

9:30

culture food and music but it’s almost as well known for

9:38

its ongoing battles with drug cartels 430,000 people have been killed

9:46

since the start of this drug war nearly two decades

9:51

ago this roundabout in the center of Mexico City is dedicated to some of the

9:56

estimated 60,000 people who have been disappeared often with a collusion of law

10:06

enforcement in 2014 there were 43 students who disappeared 10 years on

10:11

there’s been no justice no accountability it’s a huge Scandal here and remarkably there’s actually a real

10:17

deep connection to Israeli spyware Eduardo abanes has been a regular at this protest encampment for

10:24

the last 10 years

10:44

three were killed and the remaining 43 were taken into custody by local police

10:49

they have not been seen since various investigations have revealed the involvement of the army but failed to

10:56

locate the bodies of the missing

11:04

led by the families the movement for justice was seen as a thresh by successive

11:10

governments and the Israeli spy we Pegasus was deployed on

11:17

them we’re going to see Centro Pro a legal firm here in Mexico City who

11:22

represented some of the 43 disappeared families and to find out how they were Pegasus which appears to be a verb now

11:31

in 2016 things were tense as the lawyers contested the government’s account of

11:36

what had happened to the missing and then their private phone calls were suddenly all over the national media I

11:43

received messages of um phone call that I have

11:48

had with one of the parents of the 43 that was being published in a big

11:54

newspaper from Mexico

12:03

this phone call with one of the parents was presented in a way that suggested

12:08

that we were talking about dirty money and the whole presentation was signed by

12:15

a drug cartel and so on when that happened we were shocked it was my voice

12:21

it was a private phone call you become afraid of what else can they have of

12:28

your private life then in 2022 Apple’s customer protection system alerted them

12:34

that they were the subject of a state sponsored attack nowadays you have everything on your phone there is

12:40

nothing that we can do basically to prevent it what everybody says is that

12:46

this technology evolves faster than what we can do you know in a small NGO in

12:52

Mexico City at the time of the first attack no one knew how this had happened

12:58

or who else might be targeted until this man helped identify

13:03

the Spy wear hi hi but before we could talk he wanted to check that my phone

13:08

wasn’t infected it will not only compromise you but every everyone who has contacted you so it’s it’s

13:14

surveillance that goes beyond their main target what we’re going to do is that we’re going to see if we can find

13:21

something Pegasus can now get into your phone without the user needing to click a link it takes control of your camera

13:28

your microphone and broadcast it to those controlling the software they can see your location

13:34

access your data and see what’s on your screen including encrypted messaging apps well it’s good that’s negative

13:41

there yeah this phone didn’t show signs of the types of infections that we check for including Pegasus how often do you

13:48

use these tools to check we talking daily yeah almost when the lawyer phones were first compromised in 2016 Lewis

13:56

started investigating who was behind it this is the first contract to get access

14:04

to Pegasus almost $3 million and it mentions also the number of targets

14:10

because normally the number of licenses that that this particular client acquired which were 500 that means that

14:17

you can spy 500 phones at the same time during this period 10,000 or even more people were

14:25

targeted with Pegasus in Mexico many of which were journalist humor righted offenders activists um politicians government

14:32

officials themselves another sales document this one from 2022 revealed the

14:38

Mexican Army was acting in an unconstitutional way heading of the email and the document it’s called

14:45

officios mortales or like deadly document something like that is that

14:50

supposed to be funny or I don’t know it’s supposed to be funny or is supposed to like indicate that it’s very secret

14:56

the final user of this director of Military Intelligence Center this agency

15:02

was secret but it was also illegal they don’t have any legal authorization to do

15:08

surveillance Mexico’s Army is huge almost state within a state and Mexico

15:14

is the world’s biggest user of Pegasus spyware it’s controlled by the Army intelligence Center behind gate four of

15:21

this massive Camp it’s totally secretive there’s no

15:28

way can actually get in there have a chat which would be nice love to see the

15:34

files despite the evidence the Army still denies they use Pegasus and that

15:40

Dynamic gives Israel potential leverage over Pegasus

15:45

customers they could reveal their clients they they have allegedly backups of all the people have

15:53

that have been surveilled definitely that gives Israel power over the Mexican position from for example the Mexican

15:59

Army has no legal basis to acquire or deploy a tool like Pegasus that

16:06

definitely plays a role into how belligerent The Mexican government or

16:11

how outspoken it is on uh issues like the apar or genocide going on in in

16:20

Palestine after gaining access to Pegasus in 2011 Mexico’s tradition of

16:25

supporting Palestine at the United Nations shifted and after Netanyahu visited in 2017 Mexico announced it

16:33

would abstain on several Pro Palestine resolutions the use of Israeli

16:39

technology is even more profoundly embedded in the European

16:46

Union the EU is the second largest buyer of Israeli

16:54

weapons Israeli so-called smart fence technology is being installed on Europe’s land borders to control

17:02

migration and we’re here in Samos Greece just 2 kilm from Turkey to see how

17:07

Israeli surveillance Tech is Central to the eu’s vision for border security we’re meeting Petra molner who is an

17:15

anthropologist and a global expert on migration and borders good to see you by

17:22

Samos I think is a really important place to try and understand because it

17:27

was one of the first first camps that was constructed to deal with uh a mass

17:33

influx of people who were escaping the Syrian War back in 2015 2016 on the

17:38

hillside just outside the main town of Vy the Old Camp was built for 650 people

17:44

but was rapidly overwhelmed with up to 9,000 it was a bustling City within a

17:51

city almost kind of spilling down the hillside like a glass of milk into the city of V there people had to build

17:58

their own ramp shackle tense and there were reports of rape and violence I mean obviously the conditions were horrific

18:05

but it had a bit of like a community feeling to

18:11

it people were surviving there was a school people would cook and spend time

18:20

together as we kept getting more and more people on the island um the authorities decided that something had

18:26

to be done to this camp and they they obviously decided they want to build something more Hightech and bigger yeah

18:34

that’s right with money from the European Union and Samos was the first camp like this that was constructed it’s

18:40

just over the hill there and it is very very different from from this

18:45

one in 2021 thousands of refugees were moved to the new closed control Access

18:51

Center or CCAC much better living condition but at

18:58

the same time increase security provisions for the benefit of Asylum Seekers of the benefit of the staff and

19:04

of the benefit of the local communities this CCAC is up a hill 8 km from the

19:10

town what really strikes you first like it’s a massive block of concrete it’s

19:16

sunbaked it’s so hot it’s just you know there’s very little vegetation inside the camp and also so much surveillance

19:23

when we went in for the official opening we were able to go inside the containers where people are are living and there

19:29

are cameras in the corridors there’s also cameras on some of the taller poles

19:34

people have reported drone usage and and where the data is going and who it’s being shared with is not exactly clear

19:41

so what is it like to live there Ry came from Syria and was moved from the old Camp to the CCAC you see the wires the

19:49

cameras the security guard the police like where am I I’m in Guantanamo now

19:57

sometimes I was EX in my container to take a fresh air like I I cannot be in

20:03

this box you look here like there is a camera you look there like there is a camera you turn like this there is a

20:10

camera and then beside that like everywhere there are police officer

20:15

security guard you’re controlled your life it’s under control

20:22

24/7 you feel like everyone like is staring at you like as you you are

20:29

like like uh the most dangerous person in the

20:36

world I want to know what all this surveillance is for so I’m meeting an NGO that provides legal support to

20:43

Asylum Seekers when people are registered in the Clos control Access Center they’re

20:49

required to give their fingerprints multiple times and part of this is for the Asylum procedure it’s for the

20:55

eurodac system that’s an eu-wide database of fingerprints of Asylum Seekers but it’s also for edion this uh

21:02

biometric AI technology that the CCAC has in place that’s 100% funded by the

21:08

EU so they have a biometric card and when they leave the facility and when they come back in they have to scan the

21:14

card and scan their fingerprint to be able to enter and exit when you look at the ministry of

21:21

migrations website you can see that they report that there’s uh Behavioral or motion recognition analytics that is

21:27

being used um in the centavo system to our understanding it’s that there’s CCTV

21:33

cameras and drones um which are then um live streamed to a control center in

21:38

Athens this is known as centor and controls the seos CCAC and four other

21:44

similar camps at the heart of it is a system supplied by octopus an Israeli

21:50

firm whose customers include the Israeli military octopus allows simple

21:56

management of entire security events from one screen and on Samos we discovered that the behavioral analytics

22:03

is done by Israeli company visites which is supported by the Israeli Army and

22:08

intelligence Services it goes to these policies of exclusion and and Technologies of control I mean I was in

22:15

the occupied West Bank last year uh and some of the infrastructure that you see there is replicated here I mean it is

22:22

the kind of same thinking that technology can be used to manage people and control people and keep people away

22:29

that you don’t want on your territory key to Europe’s efforts to keep people away are the Heron drones Israel uses to

22:36

surveil Gaza in 2020 Israel Aerospace industry signed a $50 million deal to

22:44

provide the drones to the eu’s Border Force [Music]

22:49

frontex introducing Heron Maritime uas with a multi-sensor payload tailored to

22:55

the mission and with 24 hours of endurance known as a fix wi drone the Heron has a

23:01

range of up to 1,000 kilm from its base in Malta unlike a ship on the sea a

23:07

drone has no obligation to rescue vessels in distress instead frontex

23:13

passes the location of Migrant boats to the Libyan Coast Guard the boat capsized

23:18

during the interception the EU pays Libya to intercept migrants and in just the first 10 months of 2024 over 18,000

23:26

people were stopped from reaching Europe there’s people in the water now yeah a lot a lot of people in the all of

23:33

[Music] them at least 28,000 people have died in

23:38

the Mediterranean in the last

23:44

decade the Greek government and the EU deny that they do push backs what do you

23:49

think their logic is in doing so they want to make the passage into the EU as

23:55

difficult and as violent as possible so that other people are dissuaded from coming because the more technology you

24:02

have the more the bigger your surveillance Dragnet is and people also know that and so they will take riskier

24:08

routes to try and avoid that surveillance in 2019 the Greek Coast Guard signed a deal with his ra company

24:15

Elbert for a full combat Suite enabling Patrol boats to control fleets of drones

24:20

and conduct surveillance far beyond the line of sight the Army acquired an Israeli made Heron drone for border duty

24:28

in 202 and the Coast Guard has had one since 2022 this footage shows the Coast Guard

24:35

illegally pushing a boat out of Greek Waters and into Turkish Waters known as a push back it’s something Ry

24:42

experienced multiple times during his attempts to reach Grace they were like

24:48

hitting us with iron uh metal and they were like uh destroying the motor and as

24:55

us like to throw the oil the Benz of the motor that’s to not be able to cross

25:02

after when they uh leave we remain contact with someone who

25:08

works at this high-tech camp and he doesn’t want to be identified so we have to go out of town to interview him and

25:14

we’re on the way there now The Whistleblower says that in 2020 Greece

25:19

adopted a policy to push back 100% of the boats so they started pushing every

25:25

boat back to Turkish Waters to Turkish Waters he said says after 2020 almost no one arrived at the

25:31

camp after March 2020 the numbers of SAS were ridiculous I think it was like 25

25:38

people in total but you cannot have zero arrivals for a whole year they prove

25:44

that they can control 100% the arrivals that changed in June 2023 when the Greek

25:50

Coast Guard tried to to Refugee boat the Adriana but instead capsized it killing

25:56

nearly 600 people suddenly Greece’s border practices were under the

26:01

spotlight they changed their policy they stopped doing pushbacks he says that for seos the pause resulted in more people

26:09

in the camp and that’s why from 300 people 400 people that were there within two maximum 3 months you had 4,000

26:17

people in the camp the reason behind that is because they stopped doing push backs we’ve looked at the official data

26:23

for arrivals and the numbers in the camp and they broadly support what he’s saying

26:28

it makes sense that Greece and Israel are very close they’ve never been closer defense deals but it’s more than that

26:34

both countries sell themselves as a model to how to keep unwanted

26:40

populations

26:47

out we just arrived in Delhi in India and it is predictably

26:52

overwhelming and we know already that India buys more arms off Israel than

26:57

anyone else but actually we’ve come to discover as a relationship more than

27:03

that as India overtakes China as the world’s most populous country the

27:08

government is Keen to increase its high technology manufacturing and this has led to deep ties with

27:15

Israel they’re on our way to meet some farmers in Punjab State not that far from Delhi and the reason we want to do

27:22

this is that we’ve discovered that they have been attacked Jil this year by

27:27

drone and there’s a connection with how Israel treats Palestinians so we want to go and speak to them and understand what

27:35

happened this was the response of the authorities to seek Farmers peacefully protesting at the removal of price

27:42

protections for their crops 6 months later they’re still camped out on the motorway in protest pushpin Des Singh

27:49

remembers how the police ched a tactic new to India dropping tear gas from

27:56

drones Dr

28:15

[Music]

28:26

this is one of the farmer’s leaders he shows me the empty canisters some of which they said had come from the

28:38

Drone interrupted by The Monsoon we go to their makeshift headquarters that’s the Drone drone

28:47

dropping tear gas

29:00

the police drones were supplied by drisha a company owned by the state of hayana to find out more we met the

29:07

former Chief Operating Officer of drisha also a former Wing commander in the Indian Air Force in 2018 hyana sent a

29:16

delegation to Israel politicians and police why did they go there and what

29:21

were they hoping to learn from a country that describes itself as a leader in homeland security that was a starting

29:27

point of of forming the Rishad that gives an idea to a state

29:33

that we should have our own setup Hay’s chief minister led the delegation which

29:39

visited Israel Aerospace Industries where they were briefed about Innovations in Aerospace and

29:46

defense there is no doubt that Israel is far ahead as far as Technologies and

29:51

deep Technologies are concerned so lot of learning we have taken from as

29:59

at the time of the Indian visit Palestinians were peacefully protesting on the Gaza border it was here the

30:06

Israeli Army pioneered the practice of using drones to drop tear gas on

30:12

protesters the Israeli Army also shot and injured over 36,000 people and

30:18

killed 200 at the Indian Farmers protest the

30:24

drisha drones were initially being used for surveillance of the armers says the wing Commander since this being a dual

30:31

Ed technology so government thought we can use it to control the situation also but

30:39

obviously being a democratic Nation people doesn’t like that but government sometime have to act tough that protest

30:46

was controlled at the cost of resentment by the people this is far from the only

30:52

exchange of ideas and weapons between India and Israel I promise

30:58

def in this Bollywood Style song Israel sings his allegiance to

31:06

India support while dancing around the products of Israeli missile manufacturer

31:14

[Music] Raphael to find out how this relationship came about I’m meeting

31:21

defense expert Rahul Betty hi hi lovely to meet you how are

31:26

you he says changed when India’s previous main weapons supply of the Soviet Union collapsed in

31:34

1991 Israel sensed an opportunity India was a very ready and a very hungry

31:42

customer India is currently the largest purchaser of Israeli weapons buying

31:47

nearly 50% of total exports but it’s more than a customer under the Mak India

31:53

policy the adani group and Israeli company Elbert are making a version of the Hermes 900 drone in hydrabad Israel

32:01

Aerospace Industries has set up a joint venture with Barett Electronics to maintain the II design medium range

32:08

surfac toar missiles used to cross India’s armed forces and India has made

32:14

its space launch capacity available to Israel with a surveillance satellite to

32:21

surveil their borders in Gaza and in in in the Northern Territories they

32:27

launched another satellite soon after it was called reset rat uh with the X-ray radar supplied by

32:35

II Israel aircraft Industries which helps India uh monitor its line of

32:41

control with Pakistan I stand with isra

32:47

isra I love you is after October 7 there was a huge

32:54

increase in pro-israel Social media posts by right Hindu groups like

33:08

this the street level support enables more establishment Hindu nationalists to go even further especially around

33:16

India’s disputed territory of Kashmir you need an Israel like solution to

33:23

Kashmir this is a dawn of a new era in the great friendship between India and

33:29

Israel I think it HS a flourishing of our partnership to bring prosperity and

33:34

peace for both our people at the offices of the independent newsite the wire are meeting its

33:41

founding editor how would you describe the shared values and relationship between Modi

33:47

Netanyahu Israel and India the official definition of Israel now is as a uh

33:56

Homeland for Jews and Jews are the only authentic Israelis Israel is a Jewish

34:02

State uh their counterparts in India Envision India as a Hindu State as a Hindu rashtra where where Hindus are the

34:09

only authentic uh Indians so I think that’s very important glue that binds the uh

34:15

the two um governments at this stage after Independence in 1948 India

34:23

saw itself as a postcolonial leader and was one of the first to recognize pal

34:29

but that’s been shifting since India has been a large customer of Israeli weapons and in 2024 India abstained on the

34:37

motion to end the occupation in Palestine it’s really quite appalling the way in which the current Indian

34:43

government has reversed India’s long-standing support for the people of Palestine and going back to before India was an independent

34:50

country far from criticizing Israel for its war on Gaza India’s booming defense

34:55

industry is now exporting explosives missiles and drones to

35:02

Israel so when we came here we knew that India buys more arms from Isel anyone

35:08

else in the world but actually what we’ve discovered being here is that really there’s a cultural Affinity

35:14

between India and Israel which is kind of about racial Supremacy both Nations

35:19

admire each other’s racism but before India Israel had an

35:24

even murkier brush with racial Supremacy I’ve come to South Africa to see what

35:29

extent Israel helped support the apartheid regime here so we’re in Cape Town South Africa

35:37

and first we’re at the richest pous part of the city to see this incredible

35:43

wealth it’s no accident that se Point remains one of the wealthiest areas in South Africa under apartheid only white

35:50

people were able to live here [Music]

35:58

instituted in 1948 the apartheid policy was a form of racial discrimination that

36:03

saw whites colors and blacks living under different legal and economic

36:09

systems non-white people were forcibly moved from the city and put into townships where many still live

36:18

today so we’re just on the way to a Township on the outskirts of Cape Town where we’re going to see the reality

36:24

what AP paride was like and we’re going to meet up with the woman called Henrietta who was campaigning against it

36:31

for years there were townships on either side of this highway established during

36:37

a party to provide labor for the factories a bit further

36:44

down this is the outskirts of Langer the black

36:49

Township even now it’s dominated by informal settlements built by people who

36:55

can’t find any other housing [Music]

37:01

it’s just so shocking and enraging on the other side of the

37:07

highway is bony hville a Township established for colored people which included those who were mixed race

37:14

indigenous and of Asian Heritage where I’m meeting Henrietta hello

37:19

hello wow what a beautiful garden

37:27

I was born in the apartate system so for me it was normal net Blancas whites only

37:34

Europeans only it was ingrained in you

37:40

that this is not for you these are for white people and something like a train

37:45

you could see the different standard we would sit on hard wooden benches in the train and they would have cushy uh um

37:54

seats how was a paride enforced exactly the police and the army during the ‘

37:59

880s they felt that they had to be present like they were stationed at our schools it was nothing for them to march

38:05

up and down our corridors or if they wasn’t stationed there they were doing

38:11

the rounds on our streets so they were

38:16

[Music] everywhere apartheid was resisted from the beginning but by the 1980s the

38:22

African National Congress and other groups were organizing Mass protests

38:31

Henrietta was one of the [Music]

38:41

activists this is what’s called Freedom Square yeah we would sit waiting on news

38:47

waiting on who’s being arrested waiting on what is the next

38:52

plan we had a running battle here with the police for instance police would come there we will throw stones go

38:58

whatever then I would quickly run I would go and grab your grand child

39:05

in a frame and come back and watch the police as if I did nothing or pretend

39:11

that you were the mother yes right yes whatever you need to do right

39:16

yes despite these efforts Henryetta was arrested 14 times by the police who

39:22

routinely beat political organizers I had comrades of mine who was TI to

39:28

beds they would put things up there rectums males whose genitals banged into

39:37

filing drawers women been taken by their hair

39:42

thrown from one wall to the other to the [Music]

39:49

other internationally there was a growing movement of boycott divestment and sanctions against apartheid by the

39:57

1980s South Africa was economically and culturally isolated only a few countries

40:03

including the UK and US offered the regime any support to add to those

40:09

economic sanctions wouldn’t help negotiations it would only make things worse but South Africa had another

40:15

secure partner throughout this period of isolation

40:22

Israel I’m meeting an investigator of economic crimes and human rights violations

40:28

we got a range of of documents here that come from different archives that tell different parts of the story I suppose

40:34

of of the South Africa Israel relationship kind of at the height of a partage this is from uh

40:40

1976 they really need stuff quite desperately so they’ve purchased uh six 130 mm ammunition systems from Israel

40:48

for 2.7 million round Israel in general was a huge suppli of ammunition to the

40:53

aparted state an additional option has been obtained for the purchase of 14,000

40:58

white phosphorus shells from the mid 1970s South Africa was at War trying to topple the leftwing government of the

41:05

newly independent Angola in 1976 South African prime minister John

41:12

voster visited Israel amid speculation the countries were working on an arms

41:18

deal if you look at the amount of weapons being bought around a billion US doar from the’ 70s into the 80s by the

41:25

apartate state that’s an incredible inflow of money into the Israeli economy

41:30

just when they need it and so just from a demand perspective that’s an important relationship but then of course there’s

41:36

the secondary benefit to both states which is the kind of co-creation of weapons technology so there’s a a flow

41:43

of funds happening but there’s also a flow of expertise that the apartate state is able to use Israeli Tech to

41:49

build their weapons technology Israel also supplied equipment used to repress the anti-apartheid movement including

41:56

water cannons made by an Israeli kabot but the relationship went deeper than just weapons this is from Milan to a

42:05

chief of general staff for the Israeli Defense Force and I think this is the telling line it is comforting to know

42:10

that South Africa does not stand alone in facing criticism from the International Community our respective

42:16

countries will have to withstand this in all its many manifestations and we keep up our determination and this is an

42:23

example but you see another places of the South Africans and the Israeli officials writing to each other with

42:29

that kind of mutual understanding of we’re under siege we’re under attack no one understands us um but you

42:37

do these two countries also work together on the development of their nuclear weapons South Africa supplied

42:43

Israel with uranium in the 1960s and they exchanged technology towards the

42:49

mid to the late 1980s when sou Africa have essentially developed uh nuclear weapons capacity we know that there are

42:56

high level discussion between the Israelis and the South Africans about missile technology and developing kind

43:02

of mid to long range uh missiles that could carry a nuclear load South Africa gave up its nuclear

43:09

weapons along with the paride in the 1990s but by then the Army and Security

43:15

Services were dependent on Israeli security Tech and have remained so in many sectors including with water

43:22

cannons it’s perhaps not a surprise then that it’s a post aarti government

43:27

that’s mounting the most serious challenge to Israel’s war in Gaza in

43:32

keeping with our obligation as a state party to the genocide convention our government has approached the

43:38

international court of justice to prevent the unfolding genocide in

43:44

Gaza what we’ve uncovered and detailed is the huge and close links between

43:50

Israel and apar South Africa for decades and I think it tells us a lot about how

43:56

Israel is willing to use its technology not only to survive but to support other

44:01

regimes that agree with its vision of racial [Music]

44:07

[Applause] [Music] Supremacy I’ve come back to Israel to try to understand where this idea comes

44:15

from this is one the regular protests calling on the government to bring the hostages home from Gaza there are

44:22

hundreds of thousands of people that way hundreds of thousands of people that way a sea of Israeli flags and there’s a

44:28

stage over there where some family members of hostages are speaking and demanding the government makes a deal

44:35

with Hass to free the hostages I want to hear how people are thinking about the war on Gaza at the beginning I was like

44:42

I don’t care from the other side yeah they brought them brought it on themselves yes but now when we know when

44:50

we understand we want the killing to stop and your solution to that is to is

44:56

it to end the war or is it to make a deal War to make a deal to end the war bring all of them back

45:03

home save lives of of them of our soldiers of the

45:11

people on the other side you mean Palestinians they also have innocent

45:17

people a lot of people in Israel even in the left Center left actually don’t give

45:23

a damn about Palestinian life in Gaza in the West Bank and this is actually this is part of the

45:29

problem because people here are fighting for democracy but actually they’re fighting for democracy for the Jew for

45:34

the Israeli not even for the Palestinian who live in Israel to find out why this is a meeting

45:42

outspoken journalist Gideon Levy he puts it down to what he calls the Israeli

45:47

mindset most of the Israelis including the secular ones if you scratch Under

45:53

the Skin you will see they truly believe that we are the chosen people and being

45:59

the chosen people means that we have privileges it means that nobody can tell

46:05

us what to do and it’s becoming clear that Israel sees what happened on October the 7th as justification not

46:12

only to destroy Gaza but to resettle it the only way to prevent that from happening again is to return the entire

46:20

strip to Jewish sovereignty to be an integral part of the land which it was

46:25

always meant to be that’s the the only real way to bring peace no one’s really sanctioning Israel

46:31

for arms or really anything how does it get away with it Israel developed a very

46:36

sophisticated strategy namely any criticism about Israel is anti-Semitism

46:41

I don’t think there is one state in the world who has the same freedom to do

46:47

whatever it wants without legal limits without moral limits without any

46:54

International limits I don’t think there one state in the world that not only

47:00

ignores endless resolution of the International Community but is also the

47:05

darling of the West on This Global Journey one of the

47:12

things that really struck me is how ubiquitous Israeli surveillance Tech is

47:18

border Tech but not just equipment actually it’s ideology because in some ways what I’m investigating is not just

47:25

the Israeli arms industry which is huge and growing it’s also an idea this idea

47:32

that Israel is selling a model a way to separate and control unwanted

47:40

populations minorities whether it’s Muslims or others so much of the world increasingly

47:47

is dealing with the climate crisis growing numbers of refuges well over 100

47:52

million and as much of the world moves to the right and the far right they see

47:57

this country where I am now as that model and in fact despite what Israel is doing right here in Gaza they see that

48:04

in fact as a reason to to copy Israel even more because there Israel is already selling and promoting and

48:11

marketing the repressive Tech and weapons that they’re using in the Mass Slaughter in Gaza behind me

48:20

[Music]

oooooo