Mastodawn

Looks like Israel managed to reimagine #Nazism where the orders come from an AI system, rather than a deranged leader (which they in fact have in place already).

Mind you, this is an AI system --- a technology so unreliable you wouldn't trust to spell or cite references reliably was used to "identify" targets to kill. Real human beings. Killed with a statistical model. No questions asked.

That's one more condition Dan Tamir (Hebrew Fascism in Palestine, 1922-1942) didn't consider for his projection for Israel 2023-4. https://kolektiva.social/@oatmeal/112207797594836167

@israel @palestine

oatmeal (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image Tamir, Dan. Hebrew Fascism in Palestine, 1922-1942. 1st ed. 2018, Springer International Publishing : Imprint: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. A timely read, considering all the conditioned Tamir discussed in 2019 seem to be present in Israel today. The combination of a constitutional crisis, a major national threat, economic distress, and a charismatic right-wing leader could potentially lead to a resurgence of fascist-like politics in Israel, even if the manifestations would differ from historical #fascism. But this scenario is not inevitable. @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] #Israel #NeoZionism #Fascism #OtzmaYehudit #Likud #Netanyahu

kolektiva.social

https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza/

[cont’d] From the Sikha Mekomit [locla call]/972mag report:

[…] “At 5 a.m., [the air force] would come and bomb all the houses that we had marked,” B. said. “We took out thousands of people. We didn’t go through them one by one — we put everything into automated systems, and as soon as one of [the marked individuals] was at home, he immediately became a target. We bombed him and his house.”

[…] “Everything was statistical, everything was neat — it was very dry,” B. said. He noted that this lack of supervision was permitted despite internal checks showing that Lavender’s calculations were considered accurate only 90 percent of the time; in other words, it was known in advance that 10 percent of the human targets slated for assassination were not members of the Hamas military wing at all.

[…] B. said that the reason for this automation was a constant push to generate more targets for assassination. “In a day without targets [whose feature rating was sufficient to authorize a strike], we attacked at a lower threshold. We were constantly being pressured: ‘Bring us more targets.’ They really shouted at us. We finished [killing] our targets very quickly.”

@israel
@palestine

‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza

The Israeli army has marked tens of thousands of Gazans as suspects for assassination, using an AI targeting system with little human oversight and a permissive policy for casualties, +972 and Local Call reveal.

+972 Magazine

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/03/israel-ai-warfare-gaza-00144491

[cont’d] IDF’s formal response to an earlier inquiry by Sikha Mekomit (Local Call) regarding an automated targeting system called “The Gospel system”, which seems be the same system calle “Lavender” in the final report.

[…] “It’s been clear that Israel has been using AI to have what they call ‘power targets’ so they are using it intentionally — as opposed to what it’s supposed to be, which is helping with precision — to target civilians,” said Nancy Okail, president of progressive foreign policy think tank the Center for International Policy. She said the IDF appears to be allowing for a broad definition of these “power targets” — which the military’s intelligence branch defines as “ targets with security or perception significance to Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.”

#PDF [Hebrew] https://www.idf.il/media/4ecjskzb/%D7%9E%D7%A2%D7%A0%D7%94-%D7%9C%D7%91%D7%A7%D7%A9%D7%94-%D7%91%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%90-%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%93%D7%A2-%D7%91%D7%A2%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9F-%D7%9E%D7%A2%D7%A8%D7%9B%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%91%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%94.pdf

@israel
@palestine
#Lavender #LocalCall #972mag #AutoamtedTargeting #AI
#Israel #WarCrimes

@israel
@palestine
#Israel #WarCrimes #Gaza

#WCK / Chef Jose Andres says Israel targeted his aid workers 'systematically, car by car'

"This was not just a bad luck situation where ‘oops’ we dropped the bomb in the wrong place, [...[ This was over a 1.5, 1.8 kilometers, with a very defined humanitarian convoy that had signs in the top, in the roof, a very colorful logo that we are obviously very proud of," he said. It's “very clear who we are and what we do [...] They were targeting us in a deconflicting zone, in an area controlled by IDF. They knowing that it was our teams moving on that road ... with three cars," he said.

Mason, Jeff, and Jeff Mason. “Chef Jose Andres Says Israel Targeted His Aid Workers ‘Systematically, Car by Car.’” Reuters, April 3, 2024, sec. Middle East. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/chef-jose-andres-says-israel-targeted-his-aid-workers-systematically-car-by-car-2024-04-03/.

World Central Kitchen. “World Central Kitchen | WCK Calls for Independent Investigation into IDF Strikes.” Accessed April 4, 2024. https://wck.org/news/idf-investigation.

WCK calls for independent investigation into IDF strikes
@israel @palestine

World Central Kitchen | WCK calls for independent investigation into IDF strikes

An independent investigation is the only way to determine the truth of what happened, ensure transparency and accountability for those responsible, and prevent future attacks on humanitarian aid workers.

World Central Kitchen

sebastian büttrich Apr 4, 2024

@oatmeal @israel @palestine

Perhaps the Lavender "AI" had correctly thought that

killing a few aid workers might successfully deter other aid initiatives, and thus help starve palestinians to death -
which is quite an obvious goal of the #Israel #Terror on #Gaza

@sebastian yea. no need for an ai. A twisted, sick leader, like Netanyahu, is more than enough. UNRWA was kneecapped. then an IDF issued report claimed UNRWA is not doing it's job and aid is waiting at the crossing, so it should be dismantled, then kill aid workers... it's obvious the idea is to prevent Gazans coming back to the north and let Israel control it indefinitely.

@israel @palestine

[cont'd] #WCK / #UK faces pressure to stop selling weapons to Israel after aid workers killed

[...] The three main British opposition parties and some lawmakers in the governing party on Wednesday said the British government should consider suspending arm sales.

[...] "It's important now that, that advice is published so that we can all be clear that if there has been a breach in international humanitarian law -and I must say that I do have very serious concerns - that arm sales are suspended," said David Lammy, the Labour foreign policy chief, told reporters.

Macaskill, Andrew. “UK Faces Pressure to Stop Selling Weapons to Israel after Aid Workers Killed.” Reuters, 4 Apr. 2024. www.reuters.com, https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-faces-pressure-stop-selling-weapons-israel-after-aid-workers-killed-2024-04-03/.

@israel @palestine

https://twitter.com/antonioguterres/status/1776408968711041434

oatmeal Apr 6, 2024

#UN [cont’d]

António Guterres:

[…] I am deeply troubled by reports that the Israeli military’s bombing campaign includes #AI as a tool in the identification of targets, resulting in a high level of civilian casualties.

[… AI should be used as a force for good to benefit the world; not to contribute to waging war on an industrial level, blurring accountability.

@israel
@palestine
@Israel #WarCrimes #Gaza

António Guterres (@antonioguterres) on X

I am deeply troubled by reports that the Israeli military’s bombing campaign includes AI as a tool in the identification of targets, resulting in a high level of civilian casualties. AI should be used as a force for good to benefit the world; not to contribute to waging war on…

X (formerly Twitter)

@israel
@palestine
#israel #WarCrimes #Gaza
#RightSideOfHistory #AnatSchwartz

oatmeal Apr 11, 2024

#MediaBias / [cont’d]

It was only a couple of months ago that trolls hosted with the poison machine at @babka.social were busy cleaning Mastodon from "antisemites", bullying voices critical of Israel. One of their bearded busy bees went as far as to claim that Local Call [Sikha Mekomit] was a Hamas-operated outlet 🙄 …

However, since then, the exceptional work of the guys at Local Call has been quoted by mainstream media outlets like The Guardian, and now even the New York Times, which with their pathetic record so far (i.e. the Anat Schwartz piece being the most obvious failure) would do well to thoroughly read everything published by Local Call and learn how investigative journalism is done.

So the baseless accusations against Local Call as a “Hamas mouthpiece” have been thoroughly discredited, as their reporting has been widely recognized and relied upon by international media. But this incident highlights the dangers of "poison machines" like @babka.social, @RememberUsAlways
and many others like them (Israel’s official social media setting the tone), who seek to delegitimize and silence critical voices on the Israel-Palestine conflict through smear tactics, and unfounded claims

Wallace-Wells, David. “Opinion | What War by A.I. Actually Looks Like.” The New York Times, April 10, 2024, sec. Opinion. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/10/opinion/war-ai-israel-gaza-ukraine.html or https://archive.is/IdmA9.

Opinion | What War by A.I. Actually Looks Like

The Israel Defense Forces’ offensive in Gaza is an ominous hint of the military future

The New York Times

Bilal Barakat 🍉Apr 3, 2024

@oatmeal @israel @palestine Once again, the are are effectively pleading guilty in The Hague, admitting that they do not in fact know whether they’re hitting an active combatant. They seem believe their own lies about what the rules of war actually say.

@bifouba they don't know and no one cares... it's a very problematic combination, like we saw with WCK - the only time Israel bothered to apologize...

@israel
@palestine