Late last year, journalist Antony Loewenstein told inkstick.com, “In the last 10 years, Israel has made significant efforts to build relationships with Africa, but these are mostly transactional and a way to hopefully win support in the UN and other international forums.”
Loewenstein, who was based in South Sudan in 2015 and Jerusalem between 2016 and 2020, is the author of the recent book, “The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World.”
Loewenstein’s book was recommended by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan during his Feb. 25 Saviours’ Day message titled, “What Does Allah The Great Mahdi And The Great Messiah Have To Say About The War In The Middle East?”
Referring to Loewenstein, the Minister stated, “I am reading a book; I want you to get it. It’s called ‘The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World.’ It’s written by Antony Loewenstein, a Jewish man writing about what they have done to Palestinians as a laboratory.”
The Minister continued, “Everything they tried out to keep the Palestinians under control, do you know they made it into a business? And in every country that has dissatisfied citizens, they sell them what they have produced in ‘The Palestine Laboratory.’ Every country, now, is buying Israeli methodology in keeping Palestinians under control.”
During a December 2023 interview with Al Jazeera English, Loewenstein stated, “Israel’s military-industrial complex uses the occupied, Palestinian territories as a testing ground for weaponry and surveillance technology that they then export around the world to despots and democracies.”
He explained that for more than 50 years, occupation of the West Bank and Gaza has given the Israeli state invaluable experience in controlling an “enemy” population, the Palestinians. “It’s here that they have perfected the architecture of control,” said Lowenstein.
In his book, Loewenstein investigates Israeli military hardware and technologies for surveillance and data collection, and cyber warfare developed and battle-tested on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
A December 2023 opinion piece featured in the Jerusalem Post pointed to the fact that, according to polls, the majority of Israeli Jews “support the removal of Palestinians from Gaza.” The opinion piece claimed, “Sinai Peninsula (Egypt) comprises one of the most suitable places on Earth to provide the people of Gaza with hope and a peaceful future.”
However, according to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, forced displacement is a war crime—against international law.
According to Loewenstein in his December 2023 interview with inkstick.com regarding Israeli technology, “such technology has become a currency and bargaining chip in Israel’s dealings with both despots and democracies around the world, including in Africa.”
In that interview, he stated one of Israel’s West African clients is Cameroon dictator Paul Biya, whose 40 years in power have made him the longest-serving ruler in Africa. “Not only is Biya’s personal security reportedly handled by Israeli operatives, but Israel has also invested heavily in phone tapping and surveillance technology to quell dissent and keep Biya in power,” Loewenstein said, according to inkstick.com.
Africa.com reported that from the Israel defense ministry, the country’s defense exports to the continent rose to $6.5 billion in 2016—a staggering $800 million increase from the previous year. These exports mean high profits for Israeli companies, but Loewenstein argues that lucrative deals are not the only goal. Israel expects client states that benefit from its weaponry and spyware technology to shift their positions toward Israel in important votes in the UN.
“You scratch my back, I scratch yours—it is that kind of relationship,” Loewenstein explained to inkstick.com. He stated that Tel Aviv has never hidden the real motivation for its foreign policy in Africa, nor how far it is willing to go.
In a briefing with Israeli ambassadors to Africa in 2017, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summed it up, stating: “The first interest is to dramatically change the situation regarding African votes at the UN and other international bodies from opposition to support. … This is our goal,” wrote Francis Abugbilla in an article on jewishstudies.washington.edu titled, “How Benjamin Netanyahu is resetting Israel-Africa relations.”
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