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<\/p>\nby Whitney Webb
\nUnlimited Hangout<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Launched in 2016 in response to a Tel Aviv shooting and\u00a0the Pulse Nightclub shooting<\/a>\u00a0in Orlando, Florida, Gabriel offers a suite of surveillance products for \u201csecurity and safety\u201d incidents at \u201cso-called soft targets and communal spaces, including schools, community centers, synagogues and churches.\u201d The company makes the lofty promise that its products \u201cstop mass shootings<\/a>.\u201d According to\u00a0a 2018 report<\/a>\u00a0on Gabriel published in the\u00a0Jerusalem Post,\u00a0<\/em>there were an estimated 475,000 such \u201csoft targets\u201d across the U.S., meaning that \u201cthe potential market for Gabriel is huge.\u201d<\/p>\n Gabriel, since its founding,\u00a0has been backed<\/a>\u00a0by \u201can impressive group of leaders,\u201d mainly \u201cformer leaders of Mossad, Shin Bet [Israel\u2019s domestic intelligence agency], FBI and CIA.\u201d In recent years, even more former leaders of Israeli and American intelligence agencies have found their way onto Gabriel\u2019s advisory board and have promoted the company\u2019s products.<\/p>\n While the adoption of its surveillance technology was slower than expected in the United States, that dramatically changed last year, when an \u201canonymous philanthropist<\/a>\u201d gave the company $1 million to begin installing its products throughout schools, houses of worship and community centers throughout the country. That same \u201cphilanthropist\u201d has promised to recruit others to match his donation, with\u00a0the ultimate goal<\/a>\u00a0of installing Gabriel\u2019s system in \u201cevery single synagogue, school and campus community in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n With this CIA, FBI and Mossad-backed system now being installed throughout the United States for \u201cfree,\u201d it is worth taking a critical look at Gabriel and its products, particularly the company\u2019s future vision for its surveillance system. Perhaps unsurprisingly, much of the company\u2019s future vision coincides with the vision of the intelligence agencies backing it \u2013 pre-crime, robotic policing and biometric surveillance.<\/p>\n Gabriel\u2019s\u00a0product suite<\/a>\u00a0is built around its \u201csmart shield\u201d panic button. The panic button can be activated both manually and remotely and offers two-way communication, a live video feed, instant altering and gunshot detection by acoustic means. However, the panic button is meant to be used in tandem with company\u2019s \u201cthreat detection\u201d suite, which includes \u201csmart cameras\u201d that use AI, facial recognition and related technologies to detect not just weapons, but also \u201cfights\u201d and \u201cabnormal behavior\u201d of people in a particular area. Gabriel\u2019s cameras and panic buttons throughout a facility are meant to act as \u201cactivation triggers.\u201d The triggering is largely automated and managed by AI. When an \u201cactivation trigger\u201d is set off, the Gabriel system then enters any one of its alert modes, which include emergency, panic, silent panic and yellow (which is the alert mode for minor incidents).<\/p>\n As noted\u00a0elsewhere<\/a>\u00a0on the company\u2019s website, Gabriel is looking to expand far beyond schools and houses of worship to retail stores, warehouses, data centers and banks. At these other facilities, it specifically promotes its \u201cabnormal behavior\u201d detection capabilities. One example, given in reference to how its products might be used in the banking sector,\u00a0states the following<\/a>\u00a0as an \u201cabnormal behavior detection example\u201d:<\/p>\n A group of people are loitering in the ATM lobby. Gabriel is activated in silent panic mode and sends alerts with live video to the security operations center and on-site security team. Audio talk warnings begin to broadcast in the lobby. Security arrives to clear the scene.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Another example, this time for the retail sector, notes how Gabriel surveillance cameras would activate alerts when they detect \u201cunusual movements.\u201d Yet another example for warehouses and distribution centers notes how facial recognition functionality could be used to activate \u201csilent panic mode\u201d when a terminated employee is detected on the premises.<\/p>\n One of the hallmarks of the Gabriel system versus other systems, per the company, is its heavy reliance on AI and machine learning. As noted\u00a0on their website<\/a>, \u201cwe are disrupting the security industry by replacing legacy security systems dependent on human interaction with automated systems that reduce response time, chaos and cost.\u201d That \u201cdisruption\u201d is predicated in part on Gabriel\u2019s commitment to \u201cinnovation,\u201d which has prompted them to integrate what they call \u201cpreventative capabilities\u201d into its platform. The company also notes that they have \u201calready begun integrating [the Gabriel system] with cutting edge technologies such as\u00a0weapons detection, security drones, robotics and smart cameras<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n There is little further information available about the company\u2019s efforts to integrate their system with security drones and robotics.\u00a0Many security drones<\/a>\u00a0are currently on the market for use in homes, industrial sites and other types of locations, as are security robots, such as the robot \u201cdogs\u201d created by the\u00a0Hyundai-owned<\/a>\u00a0company Boston Dynamics that are\u00a0currently used<\/a>\u00a0by some U.S. law enforcement agencies. This, of course, means that Gabriel\u2019s ambitions in this regard are likely to become reality sooner rather than later. What is worth noting, however, is that drones and robots alike can easily be \u201cupgraded\u201d\u00a0to wield deadly weapons<\/a>. With Gabriel\u2019s technology in mind, the Orwellian possibility of having an entirely automated response to various types of incidents, including those arising from the detection of \u201cabnormal behavior,\u201d that could include the use of deadly force no longer seem as futuristic or far-fetched as they once did.<\/p>\n Also important to note is the company\u2019s\u00a0intended goal<\/a>\u00a0of offering predictive policing (i.e., pre-crime) functionalities. They state that: \u201cIn the future, we see a security platform [i.e., a future iteration of Gabriel\u2019s products] that can anticipate a mass causality [sic] events based on human behavior,\u00a0identify mass casualty threats prior to the first action taken<\/strong>, and automate alerting to inform potential victims before any harm is done.\u201d Predictive policing has been a major goal of companies deeply tied to the CIA, as well as Israeli intelligence for a number of years, with the most well-known of these\u00a0being Palantir<\/a>.<\/p>\n Gabriel\u2019s systems, once installed, offer complete yet invasive surveillance of civilian areas. While the schools and community centers that Gabriel most often courts have been sporadically targeted by shooters over the past few decades, these are often places that are traditionally uninterested in implementing AI-driven surveillance solutions on their premises. Yet, such places must become \u201cconnected\u201d if the future paradigm of complete connectivity between all people and places (e.g.,\u00a0the internet of things<\/a>,\u00a0the internet of places,<\/a>\u00a0the internet of bodies<\/a>) is to come to pass. Indeed, this paradigm is necessary to further the connections between the digital and physical worlds that are seen as necessary to usher in the so-called 4th<\/sup>\u00a0industrial revolution, or 4IR (which itself\u00a0has been described<\/a>\u00a0as the \u201cfusion\u201d of the physical and digital realms).<\/p>\n Notably, Gabriel\u2019s products are meant to form a network equivalent to \u201cthe internet of places,\u201d which is a \u201cspecialization of the internet of things<\/a>\u201d that allows buildings to be \u201cinstrumentally empowered through sensors, data sharing, and computation.\u201d Gabriel openly touts the \u201cnetwork effect\u201d of its products when they are installed in multiple buildings in the same area, creating a \u201csafe and connected community.\u201d While Gabriel casts this \u201cnetwork effect\u201d as helping to keep entire communities safe, it also benefits the implementation of\u00a0the \u201csmart city\u201d model<\/a>, which utilizes the internet of things and ubiquitous sensors and cameras to harvest massive troves of data that are then used to \u201cmanage service delivery,\u201d with those services including the deployment of law enforcement.<\/p>\n The main drivers (and builders) of the \u201csmart city\u201d and \u201cinternet of things\u201d paradigms are, of course, Big Tech. It is worth noting that, despite marketing itself as a company aimed at thwarting mass shootings when and\u00a0before<\/em>\u00a0they occur, Gabriel has also been actively courting the \u201cBig 5\u201d tech behemoths of Silicon Valley \u2013 Google, Amazon, Meta (formerly Facebook), Apple and Microsoft. Speaking to the\u00a0Times of Israel<\/em>\u00a0last year, Gabriel\u2019s co-founder Yoni Sherizen\u00a0stated that<\/a>:<\/p>\n Our product is now being adopted by the banking and financial services sector and we have some pilots with some of the biggest technology companies, the Big 5. So, we\u2019re looking at data centers, corporate offices or campuses, manufacturing facilities for pharmaceuticals and other essential goods\u2026 [we\u2019re] protecting a whole variety of different types of spaces.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n While mass casualty events in the United States are dreadful and could likely be mitigated to some extent by technologies like those offered by Gabriel, the company\u2019s deep connections to Israeli and American intelligence agencies, which have been seeking to utilize such technologies for ulterior ends, are a cause for concern.<\/p>\n When I\u00a0first wrote<\/a>\u00a0about Gabriel in 2019, their board of advisors included four individuals. They included Ram Ben-Barak, former deputy director of Mossad and former director-general of Israel\u2019s intelligence ministry; Yohanan Danino, former chief of police for the state of Israel; Kobi Mor, former director of overseas mission for the Israeli intelligence agency Shin Bet; and Ryan Petty, the father of a Parkland shooting victim and friend of former Florida governor (and current Florida senator) Rick Scott. At the time, Petty was the only American on the board.<\/p>\n Since then, Gabriel has been courting American schools, business and other institutions much more aggressively and have added more Americans to its advisory board.\u00a0These include<\/a>\u00a0Bob Pocica, former FBI Special Agent, former Senior Director for Global Security at Pfizer and Senior Advisor to the Chertoff Group (as in former head of the Department of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff), and Don Hepburn, former CIA executive\u00a0for 26 years<\/a>\u00a0as well as a former FBI Deputy Assistant Director. Also added was Menachem Pakman, who worked as a senior executive for Israel\u2019s Prime Minister\u2019s Office for over 30 years and is an expert in \u201cintelligence, security and counterterrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n While it is certainly possible that these numerous former officials from American and Israeli intelligence may have no ulterior motive in advising Gabriel, it is important to note that the leaders of Israeli military intelligence and Mossad don\u2019t see it that way. As I\u2019ve detailed in several previous reports, Israel\u2019s\u00a0Calcalist Tech<\/em>\u00a0published a report<\/a>\u00a0in 2019 which noted that \u201csince 2012, cyber-related and intelligence projects that were previously carried out in-house in the Israeli military and Israel\u2019s main intelligence arms are transferred to companies that in some cases\u00a0were built for this exact purpose<\/strong>.\u201d It later states that:<\/p>\n In some cases, managers of development projects in the Israeli military and intelligence arms were encouraged to form their own companies which then took over the [military and\/or intelligence] project.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It\u2019s not exactly clear why Israel\u2019s military intelligence and other intelligence agencies decided to begin outsourcing its operations in 2012, though\u00a0Calcalist Tech\u00a0<\/em>suggests the reasoning was related to the difference in wages between the private sector and the public sector, with pay being much higher in the former. However, 2012 was also the year that American hedge fund manager Paul Singer \u2014 together with Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s long-time economic adviser and former chair of the Israeli National Economic Council, Eugene Kandel \u2014\u00a0decided to create<\/a>\u00a0Start-Up Nation Central (SUNC).<\/p>\n As I\u00a0previously reported<\/a>\u00a0for\u00a0MintPress News<\/em>, SUNC was founded as part of a deliberate Israeli government effort to counter the nonviolent Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement and to make Israel the dominant global \u201ccyber power.\u201d This policy is\u00a0aimed at increasing<\/a>\u00a0Israel\u2019s diplomatic power and\u00a0specifically undermining<\/a>\u00a0BDS as well as any national or international efforts to hold Israel\u2019s government accountable for war crimes and violations of international law in relation to the Palestinians. The goal is to have other countries become so dependent on Israeli companies, and more specifically technology companies, that they are unable to effectively challenge Israeli domestic or foreign policy.<\/p>\n\u201cSafety\u201d Through Invasive Surveillance<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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The Wind Beneath Gabriel\u2019s Wings<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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