Amazon Is Investing in AI-Assisted Apartheid in Palestine
Since 2014, Amazon has been pouring billions into Israel, contributing to illegal settlement programs and the relentless surveillance of Palestinians. Israel’s dystopian end goal: to compile biometric profiles and security ratings for every resident of the West Bank.
An Israeli soldier uses an unmanned surveillance drone to monitor Palestinian stone throwers in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron on September 30, 2015. (Hazem Bader / AFP via Getty Images)
“Where is Ahmad?” Israeli military forces demanded after boarding a bus from Ramallah headed toward Jerusalem.
They were looking for me.
As a Palestinian dual national with a Palestinian ID, I cannot visit areas of occupied Palestine without a special permit called a Tasree7, which takes several months to obtain. After locating me on the bus, Israeli forces violently removed me; an armed soldier then scanned my face, passport, and other personal information and told me the information will be “permanently recorded” in their system and used against me if I attempt to make the journey again. (I was on a religious pilgrimage to pray at the Al Aqsa Mosque.)
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