Right and power

Israel is profiting financially and extending its global technological influence in response to the October 7 massacre, says investigative journalist Antony Loewenstein. 

- PETER BALE

Israel may increasingly be seen as a pariah state over its obliteration of the Gaza Strip as a viable place for its two million Palestinian population to live, but the six-month campaign has been a showcase for the Israeli defence and surveillance industry.

The October 7 Hamas atrocities exposed failings of military intelligence and political tactics, but the war in Gaza and the crackdown on dissent in the West Bank have demonstrated the ruthless superiority of Israeli military prowess, according to the author of an award-winning study of an industry he argues is built around repression.

Antony Loewenstein released The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World a few months before the devastating Hamas attacks, in which more than 1200 people were killed and about 250 were taken hostage - jolting Israel's sense of confidence and provoking a furious counter-attack that has killed more than 33,000.

The Listener (July 22) interviewed Loewenstein ahead of his NZ visit to promote the book, a time when few would have expected Hamas to be able to launch such a devastating raid. Six months on from the October 7 attacks, and with the Israeli scorched-earth response ongoing, it seemed timely to talk again to Loewenstein.

His thesis is that repressive states crave the battle-proven defence and surveillance technology Israel has deployed in Gaza.

"On the face of it, October 7 shows Israel's multi-billion-dollar intelligence military apparatus failed," he says. "Israel was caught asleep at the wheel, the military disappeared for hours, the wall, the surveillance, all disappeared or was knocked out by Hamas very effectively.

"You would think that would diminish the image of Israel as a technical marvel. I would argue that in fact the opposite is happening."