The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel profits from oppression
An Elbit Systems technician pilots a remote drone during a presentation of products manufactured by the firm, Haifa, February 2010
Hamza Yusuf writes in Middle East Eye on 2 December 2024 :
The Palestine Laboratory, a podcast by investigative journalist Antony Loewenstein available on Drop Site News, is an essential listen.
Based on Loewenstein’s book of the same name, the podcast explores how Israel’s military and technological advancements are used to sustain the oppression of Palestinians, while simultaneously being commercialised for profit globally.
This grim intersection of occupation, surveillance and profit is dissected across four episodes: “Start-Up Nation”, “How to Make Friends”, “Privatising the Occupation” and “After October 7”. They offer a deeply researched perspective on the commodification of military rule.
At the heart of the podcast lies a powerful argument: Palestinians are not only dehumanised and dominated by Israel’s political and military establishment, but their oppression is also turned into a profit-making venture.
Israel has effectively exported its occupation, marketing its supposed military innovations – developed and tested on Palestinians – to a global audience. This point resonates throughout the series, painting a sobering picture of how apartheid and economics are terrifyingly intertwined.
The podcast is particularly timely as Israel continues its systematic mass slaughter in Gaza. With the war now entering its 14th month, a special UN committee recently concluded what has long been stated: Israeli policies and practices in Gaza are “consistent with the characteristics of genocide”.
Israeli officials have openly outlined their strategic objectives, including occupation, annexation, and reducing Gaza to rubble. These actions, in their unparalleled horror, are not merely acts of war, but also serve as an avenue for Israel to flaunt on the world stage its military prowess.
Chilling juxtaposition
One of the podcast’s standout episodes, “After October 7”, underscores this connection. On 14 November 2023, amid Israel’s illegal siege of Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital, Israeli military and tech companies were simultaneously attending Milipol Paris, one of the world’s largest national security exhibitions.
At this event, attended by more than 30,000 participants from 160 countries, Israeli companies showcased products such as remote-controlled weapons developed by SmartShooter, tested extensively in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Such products are marketed as “combat-proven”, with their effectiveness demonstrated on Palestinian populations.
It was cause-and-effect personified. As Haaretz reported in April, clients from around the world have taken an interest in Israeli systems and weaponry “backed up by evidence fresh from the battlefields in Gaza and Lebanon”.
The juxtaposition is chilling. While Gaza was being subjected to a litany of crimes against humanity – including the deaths of premature babies in al-Shifa Hospital due to fuel shortages, and the digging of mass graves inside the hospital compound – Israeli firms were reaping the benefits of the military-industrial complex.
Loewenstein powerfully illustrates how the ethnic cleansing and occupation of the Palestinian territories becomes a selling point for Israel’s arms industry. Importantly, the series doesn’t shy away from the brutal realities on the ground, ensuring that Palestinian voices are centred, and not caveated or qualified.
Loewenstein speaks with Palestinian journalist Mariam Dawas from Gaza, who recounts the horrors of surviving six Israeli military onslaughts. She describes how civilians in Gaza have learned to distinguish between the weapons killing them: “People in Gaza know when it’s Apache. They know when it’s F-16.”
Recently, newer weapons, including F-35 jets, have been confirmed to have been used in Gaza, adding to the overwhelming devastation. Such firsthand accounts, interspersed throughout the podcast, ensure that the human toll of Israel’s aggression remains front and centre.