In 2021, a book entitled “The Human-Machine Team: How to Establish Synergy Between Human and Artificial Intelligence That Will Transform Our World” was published in English under the pseudonym “Brigadier General Y.S.” The author, confirmed to be the current commander of the elite Israeli intelligence unit 8200, advocates for the creation of a specialized machine capable of rapidly processing vast amounts of data to identify potential military targets during wartime. This technology aims to address the perceived “human bottleneck” in target identification and decision-making processes.
The existence of such a machine, known as “Lavender,” has been uncovered in a recent investigation by +972 Magazine and Local Call. According to six Israeli intelligence officers with firsthand experience in utilizing AI for target generation, Lavender played a pivotal role in the extensive bombing of Palestinians, particularly in the initial phases of the conflict. The military personnel treated the AI-generated outputs as authoritative, almost equivalent to human decisions.
Primarily focused on marking suspected operatives affiliated with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad as potential bombing targets, Lavender identified around 37,000 Palestinians as potential militants during the early stages of the conflict. The military heavily relied on this AI system, leading to the approval of airstrikes on thousands of individuals and their residences without thorough verification of the underlying data. The system’s margin of error, approximately 10%, resulted in instances of misidentifications and targeting individuals with loose or no connections to militant groups.
The Israeli army adopted a strategy of attacking individuals in their homes, often at night when families were present, as it was deemed easier to locate targets in residential settings. Additional tracking systems, such as “Where’s Daddy?”, were employed to monitor and execute bombings when targets entered their homes. This approach resulted in a significant number of civilian casualties, predominantly women and children, who were not actively involved in the conflict.
Furthermore, the military’s preference for using unguided “dumb” bombs, which have a higher potential for collateral damage, to strike residential buildings where suspected militants resided raised concerns about the disproportionate impact on civilians. The authorization to kill civilians alongside junior operatives marked by Lavender, with estimates ranging from 15 to 20 collateral casualties per target, underscored a shift towards a more lethal and less discriminating approach in targeting operations.
The indiscriminate targeting and high collateral damage thresholds set by the military led to devastating consequences, with entire families being wiped out in airstrikes aimed at eliminating suspected militants. The army’s rapid target generation and bombing procedures, driven by the desire to dismantle Hamas capabilities in the aftermath of significant attacks, resulted in a significant loss of civilian lives and raised ethical and operational questions about the military’s conduct during the conflict.
