The Palestine Laboratory: Screening + Q&A

Israel punches way above its weight when it comes to arms sales. The 97th country by population, it is the 9th largest arms dealer in the world with a $13b military industrial complex.

“Plenty of countries sell weapons”, says award winning journalist Antony Loewenstein, “but what makes Israel’s industry unique is the mix of weapons, surveillance technology and architectural techniques that combine to create a comprehensive system for controlling ‘difficult’ populations and are based on years of experience in Palestine. “

“What Israel is testing and selling and promoting is not just weaponry, it’s an idea, “ says Loewenstein in the film. “It’s a concept, and it’s a very appealing concept to many other countries. Israel sells the idea of getting away with it.”

In Part 1 of the Al Jazeera English produced documentary, Loewenstein goes to Israel where he examines how the country positions itself as a world leader in hi-tech weapons and surveillance technology, with glossy promotions from the top weapons manufactures that boast their products have been “tested” and “proven” in “battle”. Hearing from both Israelis and Palestinians, Loewenstein explores how the industry understands what labels like “tested” in Palestine means and how the military intelligence Unit 8200 acts as an incubator for Israeli surveillance tech start ups. He also examines Israel’s use of AI targeting systems in Gaza.

In Part 2, the investigation takes Loewenstein on an international journey through Europe, India, Mexico, South Africa and the USA as he reveals how this “technology of occupation” is also used to subjugate people and surveil political dissidents, human rights defenders and journalists all over the world.

He asks if the countries buying these systems which been “battle-tested” on Palestinians aren’t just looking for another weapon but buying into a wider ideology of the separation and control of “unwanted” populations, be they protesting farmers, dissidents, or refugees. “Israel’s mass slaughter in Gaza, Lebanon and beyond has been catastrophic for civilians across the Middle East but a massive boon for the Israeli arms industry which is seeing record profits. Repressive tech and deadly weapons are being tested in the field, on Palestinians and Lebanese, and it’s why this film is so timely to uncover the dark realities of modern warfare. What happens in Palestine never stays there. Israel is exporting its occupation around the globe.”

The screening of Part 1 will be shown at Frontline Club and followed by a discussion and Q&A with investigative journalist Antony Loewenstein.

#TruthUncovered

Presenter Antony Loewenstein is an Australian/German independent, freelance, investigative journalist, best-selling author and film-maker. He’s the co-founder of Declassified Australia. He’s worked in dozens of countries around the world and was based in South Sudan in 2015 and East Jerusalem between 2016 and 2020. In 2024, he’s the co-editor, with Palestinian Ahmed Moor, of After Zionism. A collection of the world’s leading writers and thinkers on the Israel/Palestine conflict, the book outlines how the one-state solution can be achieved in the Middle East. The book is endorsed by Naomi Klein. He’s the subject of the 2024 documentary film, Not In My Name, broadcast on Australia’s ABC TV and Al Jazeera English about Jewish dissent and his critical journalism on Israel/Palestine.

Yasmine Ahmed is UK Director of Human Rights Watch. She has two decades of experience as a public international lawyer, and human rights advocate. In her current role, she advocates for the United Kingdom’s foreign and domestic policies to be consistent with human rights. Prior to Human Rights Watch, Yasmine was Executive Director of the multi award winning human rights organization, Rights and Security International. She also worked as a public international lawyer for the UK and Australian Governments and the UN at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the Serious Crimes Unit in Timor-Leste.

Farid Barsoum is a multi-award winning journalist, filmmaker and executive producer who has worked. He has been working in broadcast journalism for nearly four decades.

In 2006 he was part of the team that launched the Al Jazeera English channel launch team, starting as a senior news producer and was later made Executive Producer for at the channel’s award winning programmes department.

In the past year, Farid was the Executive Producer for several hard hitting films that exposed the brutal realities of the Israeli occupation as well as their war on Gaza genocide and more.

Producer/Director Dan Davies is an executive producer and director whose work has been broadcast on the BBC, Channel 4, ITV1, Al Jazeera English, PBS and Channel News Asia. He has created and overseen numerous documentary series including Rebel Architecture, Rebel Geeks, The New African Photography and Europe’s Forbidden Colony (2x 50’). He has executive produced investigations like China’s Health Pyramid for Al Jazeera’s People and Power series, Midwives Under Pressure for BBC1s flagship Panorama strand and Georgia’s Baby Factory form Channel 4’s Unreported World.