Blood tech: UK’s use of Israeli spyware that helps underpin a genocide
A signal intelligence-gathering installation of Unit 8200, an Israeli intelligence corps unit responsible for collecting signal intelligence and code decryption, located on an observation point on the Israeli-Lebanese border near Rosh HaNikra crossing
Simon Speakman Cordall reports in Al Jazeera on 26 February 2026:
The United Kingdom’s government is investing in spyware developed and tested on Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank despite its public criticism of Israeli action there.
In addition to the Corsight facial recognition technology used to track, trace and detain thousands of Palestinian civilians passing through checkpoints in Gaza and the West Bank, the UK government has disregarded its own public concerns over Israel’s war on Gaza and de facto annexation of the West Bank and has purchased spyware from at least two other Israeli-linked manufacturers: Cellebrite and BriefCam.
Cellebrite is an Israeli company closely linked to that country’s military. It has developed software that can bypass passwords and security protocols on smartphones and computers and access data from them.
That software has been used extensively by the Israeli military on Palestinians across Gaza and the West Bank, including to harvest data from the phones of thousands of detained Palestinians, many of whom have been subjected to systematic torture, a report by the American Friends Service Committee said.
Cellebrite is also reported to have received support from the United States Department of Defense to work on technology designed to map underground tunnels in the Gaza Strip.
Despite its stated public concerns over Israeli action in Gaza and the West Bank, records show the UK has entered into several agreements to take advantage of the technology used by Israel in Palestinian territory.
According to public records, a number of UK police forces have purchased access to Cellebrite software, including the City of London Police, which renewed its one-year contract with the Israeli company for more than 95,000 pounds ($128,600) in June. Leicestershire Police also renewed its contract with the Israeli spyware company in March for 328,688 pounds ($445,300). The British Transport Police, the UK’s Serious Fraud Office, Kent and Essex police, and Northumbria Police have also entered into contracts with Cellebrite.