Israel’s armed drones are heralding an era of automated killing
JVL Introduction
Warfare has changed dramatically in recent decades, with the development of drones, in Ukraine and elsewhere.
They are now central to Israel’s occupation strategy in a double sense: as well as a means of general surveillance, “suicide” drones are often used to eliminate those whom Israel has targeted for elimination; and Israel’s military industry leads the world in this technology, making up as drone sales do a staggering quarter of all its defence exports.
Yet, until last year, Israel’s military censors forbade any mention of their use – particularly for extrajudicial executions.
Not only are targeted “suspects” simply murdered by them. There is often “collateral damage” – or to put it more bluntly, murder, of those who are not even “suspects”. Often these are children, as in cases discussed below.
RK
This article was originally published by +972 Magazine, in partnership with Local Call on Tue 19 Sep 2023. Read the original here.
Israel’s armed drones are heralding an era of automated killing
The army’s use of UAVs has led to soaring exports and a mounting Palestinian death toll, yet there is no public debate over their legality or morality.
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The use of drones in this situation seems to me to be an attempt to remove responsibility from those authorising and operating the attacks on a vulnerable population corralled in what amounts to a Ghetto, albeit a large one, created by the ethnic cleansing Israeli policy of Palestinian Muslims from whole swathes of Palestine. This policy may be unspoken in open discourse, never the less it is so evident in the persistent prosecution of attacks on the Palestinian Muslim population over the years and subsequent demolition and clearing of their homes and businesses that it is futile to deny it. Desensitization by distancing now seems to be the preferred method of annihilation, this however does not absolve the Israeli government and its military arm of responsibility and one hopes eventual accountability.
It really is a disgusting regime, they have no emotions of guilt or care about those innocent men, women and children they murder. They actually use footage of these drone strikes as selling aids, like they have with HiTec missile strikes on Gaza, emphasising that they are being used in actual combat situations (when clearly they are not), in fact they are videoed to use as advertising tools to increase sales.
A big thank you to people like Tony Greenstein and the group he works with, who risk much in their efforts to close down Israeli Arms Manufacturers like Elbit. It’s a pity that the MSM and I include the BBC don’t publicise the Crimes against humanity and back groups that are trying to stop them trading and wind up in Court as the accused.