On September 27, Israeli occupation forces installed a new AI-controlled machine gun checkpoint in the occupied West Bank City of Hebron to track and shoot at Palestinians. The gun fires stun grenades and sponge-tipped bullets and is also capable of firing tear gas.

To anyone in the World this would be a heinous and gross overreach of military power, but to the Palestinians in the Old City of Hebron it is the norm. They are harassed daily by the illegal settlers and occupation soldiers who aim to force them out of their homes in order to establish illegal Jew-only settlements in the area. 

Hebron-based Palestinian peace activist Issa Amro expressed serious concern regarding the risk of failure of AI technology. Speaking to Haaretz, he says “the system was placed in the centre of a heavily populated area, with hundreds of people passing by. Any failure of this technology could have an impact on many people.” 

He continues, “I see that as part of the transition from human to technological control. We Palestinians have become an object for training the high tech-industry of the Israeli army, which is not held to account for what it does.”