EU eyes Israeli technology for surveillance: Official

A senior European Union security official says the body is looking into Israeli technology for online surveillance in Europe.

EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator Gilles de Kerchove said Tuesday that the bloc was turning to Israeli methods after internet companies proved reluctant to monitor individuals.

The official cited a series of deadly attacks across Europe which had prompted officials to think of using Israeli technologies.  

Once focused on “meta data” or information regarding individuals' communications patterns, Israeli spy agencies now have refocused on social media as a complementary means of snooping on Palestinians. 

An Israeli military official who administers these methods said human intervention is required to set parameters such as age, religiosity, socio-economic background for the population being monitored.

Traditionally a source of funds for the Israeli military to maintain its "edge" in the Middle East, the US and Europeans have recently turned to a major customer of Israeli weapons. 

Last month, the US military said it had tested an Israeli short-range missile for possible use in its European network of missile systems to deter Russia. 

Major General Glenn Bramhall of the US Army’s Air and Missile Defense Command said a variant of the Israeli “Tamir” rocket which is incorporated to Tel Aviv's so-called Iron Dome missile system had been tested.

Last month, a report said European countries were increasingly purchasing weapons from Israeli arms manufacturers, promoting their products on the grounds that they have been “field-tested” against Palestinians.

The report came as 29 Israeli arms makers displayed their military technologies earlier this week at the Eurosatory conference in Paris, one of the world’s largest land defense exhibitions.

French purchases of weaponry from Israeli firms more than doubled in 2015 compared to a year earlier, amounting to $355 million.

In 2016, Israel is projected to overtake Italy as the world’s seventh-largest weapons exporter, the report said, citing IHS Jane’s.

Many of the Israeli arms technologies being sold to Europe are used in the repression of Palestinians, including in the destructive 2014 war on the besieged and densely-populated Gaza Strip.

The war left over 2,200 dead — mostly civilians — while injuring thousands more and displacing nearly 500,000 people, according to UN figures.

Human Rights Watch has criticized the purchase of field-tested Israeli weapons, saying the group has documented “violations of the rules of war that appear to rise to the level of war crimes in Gaza using some of these weapons.”

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