Eduardo González
The Sumar Plurinational Parliamentary Group, the group led by Vice President Yolanda Díaz, has denounced the use of technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) by Israel against the population of Gaza and has urged the Government to “cease” the purchase of “combat-tested” Israeli technology and to review public contracts with Israeli technology companies involved in “the genocide in Gaza and the apartheid perpetrated against the Palestinian population.”
In a non-law Proposal presented on March 13 for debate in the Plenary of the Congress, Sumar warns that the “massacre that Israel is committing against the population of Gaza since October 7” has been “possible, in good part, due to the firm commitment to the use of technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for military purposes.”
An example of this, he continues, is the use, by the Israeli Armed Forces, of the system called Habsora (The Gospel), “an algorithmic set that allows the identification and selection of bombing targets, inferring the number of people who are in the area.” zone”. “That is, the genocide is automated and, at the same time, it is used as a shield to avoid responsibility for an attack,” warns Sumar. According to experts, thanks to this method “we have gone from achieving 50 objectives a year to 100 in one day, 50% of which end up in an attack.”
“It, however, does not mean that it is only military technology that serves the State of Israel in its genocidal desire,” continues the motion, which warns that “technological advances and civil digital infrastructure are also an element today.” key to sustaining the apartheid regime and the massacre.” An example of this, Sumar points out, is Starlink, billionaire Elon Musk’s satellite technology company, which “strengthens connectivity on Israel’s southern and northern borders, streamlining its operations.”
The motion also denounces “the use of algorithms to control the narrative by Israel in the digital sphere, silencing and pointing out opinions critical of Israeli actions and the silencing of the Palestinian people.”
Business relationships
As Sumar recalls, “after the pandemic, economic relations between Spain and Israel linked to the technology sector have experienced notable growth, reflected in specific investment flow figures.”
On the one hand, according to data from the Ministry of Economy, Commerce and Business, in the first nine months of 2023 the flow of Spanish direct investment in Israel related to computer programming, computer consulting and databases reached 8.5 million of euros, almost double that of 2019, and representing 95% of the total investment.” Furthermore, “Israel has shown much greater interest in the Spanish technology market, with a direct investment flow of more than 70 million euros in the same period, being the maximum in the historical series and with a representation of 80% of the total investments.
For this reason, according to Sumar, “it is not only about stopping the arms trade with Israel but also about ending the agreements or contracts with the companies that provide services, directly or indirectly, to the Israeli government in the massacre.” However, “many of these companies also offer services to Spanish public administrations for the management or storage of critical infrastructures such as data or cloud services,” recalls Díaz, who therefore urges “initiating a process of promoting public digital infrastructures that allow Spain to deploy full technological sovereignty without dependence on companies that contribute to a war contrary to international legislation.”
For all these reasons, Sumar’s Non-Law Proposition urges the Government to cease the purchase of Israeli technology “proven in combat” or for military use and to “initiate the necessary legislative changes so that this cessation becomes permanent until the recognition of the two States and the end of Palestinian apartheid.
Likewise, the motion urges the Executive to “promote the necessary measures to guarantee access to information related to the contracts that the different public administrations have with technology companies that have already been publicly denounced for their complicity with the genocide in Gaza and apartheid. perpetrated against the Palestinian population.”
