Israel’s AI Powered Weaponry: A Joint Production of Empire

In April 2024, investigative reporter Yuval Abraham exposed the Israeli military’s use of an A.I.-powered kill list to eliminate Palestinians suspected of association with the armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. The kill list is generated by an algorithm called “Lavender” which reviews vast amounts of surveillance data and assigns every person in Gaza an individualized risk score of 1 to 100, with higher numbers suggesting an increased probability of belonging to an armed faction. The result is a ranked list that the Israeli military uses to prioritize targets for assassination. In this paper, I argue that the Israeli military bears responsibility for deploying the kill list, but the technology itself is the product of an imperial network of military/carceral forces.

In 2012, the Chicago Police Department rolled out the latest innovation in predictive policing: the Strategic Subjects List (SSL). Designed as part of the CDP’s War on Crime, the SSL algorithm analyzed CPD data and produced individualized risk scores on a 500-point scale, with higher scores meant to signal an increased likelihood that the person would become either a shooter or a victim. Police commanders used the SSL to identify people for targeted interventions.

Unlike the SSL, Lavender incorporates A.I. technology and is being used for the targeted annihilation of Palestinians. But the SSL clearly helped pave the way for Lavender. So how should we understand the movement from the SSL to the Lavender list? Drawing on research in Palestine/Israel and the United States, this paper traces the flow of data and technology through webs of imperial policing. Advancements in one arena fuel developments in others, generating an expanding spiral of surveillance. In short, Lavender is best understood as a joint production of the Israeli settler colonial state and the U.S. empire state.