{"id":256492,"date":"2024-03-04T12:00:42","date_gmt":"2024-03-04T12:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=256492"},"modified":"2024-03-04T06:23:43","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T06:23:43","slug":"so-theyre-experimenting-with-military-robots-in-gaza-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/03\/so-theyre-experimenting-with-military-robots-in-gaza-now\/","title":{"rendered":"So, They\u2019re Experimenting with Military Robots in Gaza Now"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/gaza-killer-robot-haaretz-israel-palestine.png\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-256493\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/gaza-killer-robot-haaretz-israel-palestine-1024x536.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"314\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/gaza-killer-robot-haaretz-israel-palestine-1024x536.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/gaza-killer-robot-haaretz-israel-palestine-300x157.png 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/gaza-killer-robot-haaretz-israel-palestine-768x402.png 768w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/gaza-killer-robot-haaretz-israel-palestine.png 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Haaretz <em>has a new article out titled \u201cGaza Becomes Israel\u2019s Testing Ground for Military Robots\u201d, which reports that \u201cIn an effort to avoid harming soldiers and dogs, the IDF has been experimenting with the use of robots and remote-controlled dogs in the Gaza War.\u201d <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em>4 Mar 2024<\/em> &#8211; One of the most horrifying facts about this dystopia we live in is that large-scale military operations are routinely used as testing grounds for new war machinery, using human bodies as guinea pigs for experimentation in what amount to giant blood-soaked field laboratories\u200a\u2014\u200aall to benefit the strategic objectives of empire managers and the profit margins of the military-industrial complex.<\/p>\n<p>Haaretz has a new article out titled \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/P6mAQ\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Gaza Becomes Israel\u2019s Testing Ground for Military Robots<\/a>\u201d, which reports that \u201cIn an effort to avoid harming soldiers and dogs, the IDF has been experimenting with the use of robots and remote-controlled dogs in the Gaza War.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>(Yeah because my gosh, can you imagine how terrible it would be if Israeli soldiers and dogs got harmed while carrying out a genocide?)<\/p>\n<p>The article\u2019s author Sagi Cohen reports that drone-mounted robot dogs and remotely controlled bulldozers are two of the new apocalyptic horrors currently being battle-tested in Gaza, saying \u201cdefense establishment officials confirm that there has been a leap in the use and sophistication of robots on the battlefield.\u201d Which is a pretty disconcerting sentence to read.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">In an effort to avoid harming soldiers and dogs, the IDF has been experimenting with the use of robots and remote-controlled dogs in the Gaza War  <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/jGV1yl7pOd\" >https:\/\/t.co\/jGV1yl7pOd<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/haaretzcom\/status\/1764346248201400753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >March 3, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>This news comes out at the same time as a new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.citizen.org\/article\/ai-joe-report\/\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Public Citizen report<\/a> warning of the likely imminent arrival of autonomous weapons systems which will kill people with minimal instruction from human pilots, saying \u201cThe most serious worry involving autonomous weapons is that they inherently dehumanize the people targeted and make it easier to tolerate widespread killing, including in violation of international human rights law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The more normalized robots become within the world\u2019s militaries the closer we come to this point, and steps are already being taken in that direction. As Common Dreams\u2019 Thor Benson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/report-warns-killer-robots\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">notes in an article<\/a> about the Public Citizen report, \u201cIsrael has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2023\/11\/25\/israel-hamas-war-ai-weapons-00128550\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">purchased<\/a> and at times deployed self-piloting, lethal drones.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Back in January I <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/caitoz\/status\/1745573196215243113\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a> that \u201cGaza is a live laboratory for the military industrial complex,\u201d saying \u201cData is with absolute certainty being collected on all the newer weapons being field-tested on human bodies in Gaza (just like has been happening in Ukraine) to be used to benefit the war machine and arms industry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What sparked this comment at the time was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/global-health\/terror-and-security\/armed-drones-israel-hamas-war-gaza-hospitals-gunshots\/\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reports<\/a> and first-hand <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SaulStaniforth\/status\/1743229655157469676\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">witness accounts<\/a> we\u2019d seen coming out about the prolific use of IDF \u201csniper drones\u201d in Gaza since October, with Israeli forces frequently shooting Palestinians with quad drones armed with rifles. Copious records are most assuredly being compiled on the effectiveness of these newer weapons and tactics in ending human lives, which will then be used to help market those weapons to other states and to improve their efficiency in killing.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9PEWDLunejA?version=3&amp;rel=1&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;fs=1&amp;hl=en&amp;autohide=2&amp;wmode=transparent\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>When I say this is most assuredly happening, I am not being hyperbolic for effect. Author and journalist Antony Loewenstein <a href=\"https:\/\/scheerpost.com\/2023\/12\/11\/the-chris-hedges-report-the-weapons-israel-tests-on-palestinians-will-be-used-against-all-of-us\/\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">gave a lengthy interview<\/a> on The Chris Hedges Report back in December about Israel\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Palestine-Laboratory-Exports-Technology-Occupation\/dp\/183976208X\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">long and extensively documented history<\/a> of using Gaza as a testing ground for new weapons, spyware, surveillance and security systems, AI, drones, and tactics, which has profited scores of corporations and enabled Israel to become a player of outsized success in the global weapons industry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIsrael\u2019s drones, surveillance technology including spyware, facial recognition software, and biometric gathering infrastructure, along with smart fences, experimental bombs, and AI-controlled machine guns are all tried out on the captive population in Gaza, often with lethal results,\u201d says Hedges in introduction. \u201cThese weapons and technologies are then certified as \u2018battle-tested\u2019 and sold around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This doesn\u2019t only happen in Gaza. This past September The Wall Street Journal published an article titled \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/zB0SG\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The War in Ukraine Is Also a Giant Arms Fair<\/a>,\u201d subtitled \u201cArms makers are getting orders for weapons being put to the test on the battlefield.\u201d In January of last year CNN published a report titled \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2023\/01\/15\/politics\/ukraine-russia-war-weapons-lab\/index.html\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How Ukraine became a testbed for Western weapons and battlefield innovation<\/a>,\u201d with one source saying that Ukraine is \u201cabsolutely a weapons lab in every sense because none of this equipment has ever actually been used in a war between two industrially developed nations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And of course we are also seeing this same phenomenon in Africa. In 2021 Mintpress News published a report by Scott Timcke titled \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mintpressnews.com\/west-africa-latest-testing-ground-us-military-artificial-intelligence\/276900\/\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">West Africa is the Latest Testing Ground for US Military Artificial Intelligence<\/a>\u201d about this very same trend. In 2020 Libya saw what is believed to have been the first time a human being has ever been <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/05\/29\/killer-drone-hunted-down-a-human-target-without-being-told-to\/\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">killed by a fully automated drone attack\u200a<\/a>\u2014\u200athat is, killed without the machine having been told to do so by a human.<\/p>\n<p>The other day <a href=\"https:\/\/www.caitlinjohnst.one\/p\/the-empires-weakness-is-that-it-still\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">we discussed<\/a> how the empire\u2019s great weakness is that it depends on normal human beings to carry out its orders and turn the gears of the machine. If you look at the facts and think about them for a moment, it\u2019s not hard to see how the empire managers are hoping to overcome this weakness in the future.<\/p>\n<p>________________________________<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Caitlin-Johnstone.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-180156\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Caitlin-Johnstone.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em> Caitlin Johnstone is a rogue journalist, poet, and utopia prepper<\/em>. <em>Contact: <\/em><a href=\"..\/..\/..\/..\/TRANSCEND\/T%20M%20S\/TO%20POST\/A%20BYLINES\/admin@caitlinjohnstone.com\">admin@caitlinjohnstone.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.com.au\/2024\/03\/04\/so-theyre-experimenting-with-military-robots-in-gaza-now\/\" >Go to Original \u2013 caitlinjohnstone.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>4 Mar 2024 &#8211; Haaretz has a new article out titled \u201cGaza Becomes Israel\u2019s Testing Ground for Military Robots\u201d, which reports that \u201cIn an effort to avoid harming soldiers and dogs, the IDF has been experimenting with the use of robots and remote-controlled dogs in the Gaza War [read Genocide].\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":256493,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[1733,87,865,88,1513,3114,2161,427,1108],"class_list":["post-256492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide","tag-artificial-intelligence-ai","tag-gaza","tag-genocide","tag-israel","tag-killer-robots","tag-militarism-and-ai","tag-militarism-and-science","tag-palestine","tag-robots"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256492"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256494,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256492\/revisions\/256494"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}