“It is only a matter of time until a genocide survivor sues an Israeli defense company”
Attorney Eitay Mack, who dedicates his life to greater public oversight of Israel’s military export, and to exposing alleged arms and technology deals with dark regimes, explains to Israel Defense that if the current path continues, the country could find itself in a lot of trouble
Mandi Kogosowski
| 29/03/2021
Members of the Rohingya minority of Myanmar. Photo: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development office Flickr/ commons.wikimedia/org
“Israeli arms and defense companies live in a bubble. They lack the understanding that the licenses they have from the Ministry of Defense are not an insurance policy. The standards here are low. If they get into legal a legal mess abroad, if they are sued by a person or body harmed by their equipment—then to say ‘I have a permit from the Israeli Ministry of Defense’ won’t be worth anything.” This is what Eitay Mack, a human rights attorney and activist on the subject of public oversight of Israeli arms, tech and defense export deals and increasing transparency, tells Israel Defense.
For years now, Mack has been at the forefront of this issue in Israel (a lone crusader, if you will, accompanied by a loyal group of human rights activists), waging an uncompromising battle and filing petition after petition in order to expose Israel’s alleged arms and technology deals with dark regimes which violate international law. Earlier this month, he recorded a win.
In mid-march, the digital intelligence company Cellebrite announced it will cease exporting its technology to Russia and Belarus, after Mack exposed official documents proving that the company’s Universal Forensic Extraction Devices (UFEDs), designed to retrieve and decrypt data from mobile devices, were used in order to hack into the phones of opposition activists linked to Alexei Navalny’s, Vladimir Putin’s nemesis.
In addition, about six months ago Mack revealed that the company’s technology had been sold to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, a body that operates directly under Putin whose official role is to investigate major crimes, but in actuality “is one of Putin’s main tools for pollical and minority persecution, and to prosecuting and incriminating opposition and human rights organizations”, Mack says. The head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, has been under US sanctions since 2017, and under EU sanctions since march 2021.
Earlier, in August 2020, Mack uncovered Cellebrite’s sales to the security services of Belarus, which has been ruled with an iron fist since 1994 by Alexander Lukashenko, often referred to as “Europe’s last dictator”. Belarus is also under US and EU sanction, with the latter imposing an embargo on arms exports.
“I believe that what has been revealed until now is only the tip of the iceberg”
So this seems to be a nice win for Mack. But he refuses to rest on his laurels. For him, it is not over yet. “Yes, it’s a success, at the end of the day Cellebrite did have to renounce key clients they announced they will not sell to anymore, but there’s another question here: what are they going to do with all the UFED, that according to the Investigative Committee reports are all over Russia, even in remote places?
“One of the demands in my petition is that they turn off or collect the devices. Collecting them all might be less realistic, but to my understanding there is a remote turnoff code. If they don’t, the damage will remain enormous. It is my estimation that what has been revealed until now is only the tip of the iceberg. Therefore, I am moving forward with the petition, until the company announces what it plans on doing.
“What I don’t understand, is why we need petitions and media items to change policy,” Mack wonders out loud. “How are those companies not concerned about embargos and American sanctions? In actuality, if a company wants to operate in the US it must comply with its sanctions, so such deals are forbidden. Cellebrite’s technology, for example, is used by many in the US, such as ICE. A company that is involved in deals with blacklisted countries could lose the US, both financially and as far as legitimacy is concerned. Plus, Russia—and human rights in general—is a hot topic now under the Biden administration.”
Eitay Mack. Photo courtesy of the attorney
Equipment left behind, which might be used in human rights violations, echoes another recent publication on the matter. A few weeks ago, the New York Times uncovered the sophisticated technologies and weapons used by the military junta in Myanmar to carry out the military coup in February, which still serves the generals in maintaining their steadfast rule. According to the report, the weapons included Israeli-made drones, and dual-use surveillance technologies by Israeli defense companies.
According to various publications, Israeli arms export deals to Myanmar expanded greatly since 2015, despite the country being under an EU arms embargo as well as US sanctions. The Israeli Ministry of Defense stopped exports to Myanmar in 2018—but the Israeli equipment is still there, at least some of it. And one more thing: while the coup is what’s been grabbing global attention and drawing increased criticism these days (earlier this week, 100 protestors were killed in a single day by military forces), one must not forget Myanmar’s other tragedy: the ethnic cleansing (as defined by the UN and US) of its Rohingya minority.
“They’re always in a delay here in Israel,” Mack says. “The burning of Rohingya villages already started at the end of 2016. I filed a motion to stop exports in January 2017, following the publication of reports by Harvard and other respected researchers, who were warning that a genocide was already taking place, but here in Israel they ignored it and just carried on as normal. In August 2017, the situation in Burma deteriorated further (Mack uses the country’s traditional name, as it is the military junta that changed it to Myanmar, M.K), and the genocide became widespread. The last of the Israeli companies left only in 2018, over six months later. Yes, my position is that Israel shouldn’t have such a place, known for its violations and under sanctions, in the first place, but it’s amazing how they never leave in time. It’s already by law of inertia.”
Q: According to the latest annual report by SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), Israel accounted for 69% of Azerbaijan’s arms imports in 2020. Various publications discuss suicide drones and many other weapons that the country has used in the Nagorno-Karabakh war.
“Azerbaijan is one of the most difficult, most significant stories of Israel’s arms export deals. The Azeri minister of defense announced that there’s a factory that manufactures Israeli drones there, their defense ministry constantly publishes images of Israeli weapons. At their victory parade in December, when they celebrated their Nagorno-Karabakh victory, you could see all the Israeli weapons there on display. But it goes beyond this war: there is a dictatorship there which threatens all of Armenia, a country that had already survived one genocide. Azerbaijan is getting closer to Iran, Turkey, Russia, it is no longer a pro-western country as it was in the past. I’ve already prepared a temporary order to stop export deals, which I will try to promote with the next government. This situation can’t go on anymore.”
The companies are being ‘extorted’ by the Ministry of Defense
Mack notes the interplay between the state and its defense export, and the manufacturing companies themselves. “It’s about back-to-back agreements: first, the general export agreement is signed with representatives of the Ministry of Defense, and then the government fills in the blanks regarding which company provides what, how to slice the budget pie. So it appears that the companies and the Ministry of Defense have a shared interest—but things are more complicated than that.
“In some way, the companies themselves are being ‘extorted’ by the Ministry of Defense: if they don’t work where the ministry wants them to—perhaps they will not receive the slice of pie in the better places? What does an Israeli tech company have to do in Bangladesh, for example? It’s a poot country, a small market, I find it hard to believe that there’s a substantial profit line that is worth it. Therefore, the way I understand the situation, is that behind the scenes these companies are being told ‘work where we ask you to, or we will license others instead of you.’ If one wants to be in the good graces of the powers that be, one must cooperate.”
Q: So what lies ahead? Where is this whole thing going?
“The issue of the equipment that remains in the countries to which export has ceased is something that will continue haunting the companies, and they will do themselves a favor if they untangle this mess as quickly as possible,” says Mack, before dropping another legal and ethical bomb. “It is only a matter of time before a survivor of the horrific acts in a country such as Russia, Hong Kong, South Sudan, Indonesia (Mack has filed petitions demanding exposure of the alleged security connection between Israel and all of these countries, among others), and sues one of the manufacturing companies for human rights violations. It could be an activist whose phone was hacked for information, or a torture survivor, or someone who lost his family to those weapons.
“The question to be asked, is what is corporate and legal responsibility of a given company, when it serves regimes and organizations that commit human rights violations? And furthermore—who will protect them? The Ministry of Defense? The Hight Court of Justice? For argument’s sake, let’s suppose that Israel’s High Court rejects a petition Israeli weapons in South Sudan, and them a refugee from there who lives nowadays in a third country files a lawsuit in his new country of residence against the Israeli company that sold said weapons? What will they say then, that the Israeli High Court said it’s OK? That is why, we must up out standards, act according to international law, be in line with the American and European policy.
“Let’s compare the defense and dual-use industries to a drug company: the goal is not an approval of the drug by the Israeli Ministry of Health—the goal is FDA approval. That’s the insurance policy that the product meets the required standards, and if any problem arises—you have the FDA seal of approval, a significant actor that sets international standards is behind you. Here, there is a bubble that will burst as soon as the first company gets in trouble. If something is done that is inconsistent with international law, then the claim ‘we acted in accordance with Israeli law’ will not hold water.”
Q: And such a change is something that the Ministry of Defense can undergo?
“It is very difficult to make extensive changes in government offices, which have a certain organizational and cultural DNA which already spans decades. I am not convinced that they have the right people with the gravitas to lead such a change. The Ministries of Defense and of Foreign Affairs don’t listen, don’t move with the times. But the potential for change can come from the companies themselves.
“Fear of legal entanglement aside, there’s the aspect of ethics, morality. Generally speaking, I believe that the employees, and also the senior managers, are normative people who want to make a living from working at a respectable place, be normal people who work at a normal, good company.
“I don’t think that they ever imagined they would ever be involved in assisting such horrible regimes that commit rape, murder, all sorts of atrocities—this is something that is certainly daunting. Talented people will think twice if they want to work at a place like that. And I think that the companies themselves, at least some of them, would be much happier working for legitimate, normal clients. In this context, I would like to positively mention Cellebrite, which sees itself as a civilian company, and announced of its own accord the cessation of exports to Russia, and also to Hong Kong earlier on. It wasn’t coerced by any external factor. Various companies already refer to ethical codes on their websites, people are starting to get it. I’m not saying that defense exports should stop. I’m saying that one must do it properly, in an internationally legitimate way, while taking accountability and responsibility on what is done and the possible consequences.”
The Israeli Ministry of Defense did not comment on the claims made in this article.
Cellebrite submitted the following response:
"Technology has fundamentally changed policing and law enforcement. As the world becomes more digital, our technology is involved in solving more and more cases, helping our customers accelerate justice and build a safer world every day.
Trusted by thousands of leading Law Enforcement agencies, our solutions help every year in millions of severe crime investigations around the globe, from child exploitation, rape and domestic violence, to anti-terror, human trafficking, along with many others.
We work with thousands of law enforcement agencies around the world who are committed to the lawful use of our technology to help build a safer world. To ensure our technology is used only for its intended purpose of protecting public safety and saving lives, we have developed robust controls, processes and technological capabilities.
We, at Cellebrite, remain fully committed to our core mission and values of protecting and saving lives, accelerating justice, and preserving data privacy."
Attorney Eitay Mack, who dedicates his life to greater public oversight of Israel’s military export, and to exposing alleged arms and technology deals with dark regimes, explains to Israel Defense that if the current path continues, the country could find itself in a lot of trouble
Members of the Rohingya minority of Myanmar. Photo: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development office Flickr/ commons.wikimedia/org
“Israeli arms and defense companies live in a bubble. They lack the understanding that the licenses they have from the Ministry of Defense are not an insurance policy. The standards here are low. If they get into legal a legal mess abroad, if they are sued by a person or body harmed by their equipment—then to say ‘I have a permit from the Israeli Ministry of Defense’ won’t be worth anything.” This is what Eitay Mack, a human rights attorney and activist on the subject of public oversight of Israeli arms, tech and defense export deals and increasing transparency, tells Israel Defense.
For years now, Mack has been at the forefront of this issue in Israel (a lone crusader, if you will, accompanied by a loyal group of human rights activists), waging an uncompromising battle and filing petition after petition in order to expose Israel’s alleged arms and technology deals with dark regimes which violate international law. Earlier this month, he recorded a win.
In mid-march, the digital intelligence company Cellebrite announced it will cease exporting its technology to Russia and Belarus, after Mack exposed official documents proving that the company’s Universal Forensic Extraction Devices (UFEDs), designed to retrieve and decrypt data from mobile devices, were used in order to hack into the phones of opposition activists linked to Alexei Navalny’s, Vladimir Putin’s nemesis.
In addition, about six months ago Mack revealed that the company’s technology had been sold to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, a body that operates directly under Putin whose official role is to investigate major crimes, but in actuality “is one of Putin’s main tools for pollical and minority persecution, and to prosecuting and incriminating opposition and human rights organizations”, Mack says. The head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, has been under US sanctions since 2017, and under EU sanctions since march 2021.
Earlier, in August 2020, Mack uncovered Cellebrite’s sales to the security services of Belarus, which has been ruled with an iron fist since 1994 by Alexander Lukashenko, often referred to as “Europe’s last dictator”. Belarus is also under US and EU sanction, with the latter imposing an embargo on arms exports.
“I believe that what has been revealed until now is only the tip of the iceberg”
So this seems to be a nice win for Mack. But he refuses to rest on his laurels. For him, it is not over yet. “Yes, it’s a success, at the end of the day Cellebrite did have to renounce key clients they announced they will not sell to anymore, but there’s another question here: what are they going to do with all the UFED, that according to the Investigative Committee reports are all over Russia, even in remote places?
“One of the demands in my petition is that they turn off or collect the devices. Collecting them all might be less realistic, but to my understanding there is a remote turnoff code. If they don’t, the damage will remain enormous. It is my estimation that what has been revealed until now is only the tip of the iceberg. Therefore, I am moving forward with the petition, until the company announces what it plans on doing.
“What I don’t understand, is why we need petitions and media items to change policy,” Mack wonders out loud. “How are those companies not concerned about embargos and American sanctions? In actuality, if a company wants to operate in the US it must comply with its sanctions, so such deals are forbidden. Cellebrite’s technology, for example, is used by many in the US, such as ICE. A company that is involved in deals with blacklisted countries could lose the US, both financially and as far as legitimacy is concerned. Plus, Russia—and human rights in general—is a hot topic now under the Biden administration.”
Eitay Mack. Photo courtesy of the attorney
Equipment left behind, which might be used in human rights violations, echoes another recent publication on the matter. A few weeks ago, the New York Times uncovered the sophisticated technologies and weapons used by the military junta in Myanmar to carry out the military coup in February, which still serves the generals in maintaining their steadfast rule. According to the report, the weapons included Israeli-made drones, and dual-use surveillance technologies by Israeli defense companies.
According to various publications, Israeli arms export deals to Myanmar expanded greatly since 2015, despite the country being under an EU arms embargo as well as US sanctions. The Israeli Ministry of Defense stopped exports to Myanmar in 2018—but the Israeli equipment is still there, at least some of it. And one more thing: while the coup is what’s been grabbing global attention and drawing increased criticism these days (earlier this week, 100 protestors were killed in a single day by military forces), one must not forget Myanmar’s other tragedy: the ethnic cleansing (as defined by the UN and US) of its Rohingya minority.
“They’re always in a delay here in Israel,” Mack says. “The burning of Rohingya villages already started at the end of 2016. I filed a motion to stop exports in January 2017, following the publication of reports by Harvard and other respected researchers, who were warning that a genocide was already taking place, but here in Israel they ignored it and just carried on as normal. In August 2017, the situation in Burma deteriorated further (Mack uses the country’s traditional name, as it is the military junta that changed it to Myanmar, M.K), and the genocide became widespread. The last of the Israeli companies left only in 2018, over six months later. Yes, my position is that Israel shouldn’t have such a place, known for its violations and under sanctions, in the first place, but it’s amazing how they never leave in time. It’s already by law of inertia.”
Q: According to the latest annual report by SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), Israel accounted for 69% of Azerbaijan’s arms imports in 2020. Various publications discuss suicide drones and many other weapons that the country has used in the Nagorno-Karabakh war.
“Azerbaijan is one of the most difficult, most significant stories of Israel’s arms export deals. The Azeri minister of defense announced that there’s a factory that manufactures Israeli drones there, their defense ministry constantly publishes images of Israeli weapons. At their victory parade in December, when they celebrated their Nagorno-Karabakh victory, you could see all the Israeli weapons there on display. But it goes beyond this war: there is a dictatorship there which threatens all of Armenia, a country that had already survived one genocide. Azerbaijan is getting closer to Iran, Turkey, Russia, it is no longer a pro-western country as it was in the past. I’ve already prepared a temporary order to stop export deals, which I will try to promote with the next government. This situation can’t go on anymore.”
The companies are being ‘extorted’ by the Ministry of Defense
Mack notes the interplay between the state and its defense export, and the manufacturing companies themselves. “It’s about back-to-back agreements: first, the general export agreement is signed with representatives of the Ministry of Defense, and then the government fills in the blanks regarding which company provides what, how to slice the budget pie. So it appears that the companies and the Ministry of Defense have a shared interest—but things are more complicated than that.
“In some way, the companies themselves are being ‘extorted’ by the Ministry of Defense: if they don’t work where the ministry wants them to—perhaps they will not receive the slice of pie in the better places? What does an Israeli tech company have to do in Bangladesh, for example? It’s a poot country, a small market, I find it hard to believe that there’s a substantial profit line that is worth it. Therefore, the way I understand the situation, is that behind the scenes these companies are being told ‘work where we ask you to, or we will license others instead of you.’ If one wants to be in the good graces of the powers that be, one must cooperate.”
Q: So what lies ahead? Where is this whole thing going?
“The issue of the equipment that remains in the countries to which export has ceased is something that will continue haunting the companies, and they will do themselves a favor if they untangle this mess as quickly as possible,” says Mack, before dropping another legal and ethical bomb. “It is only a matter of time before a survivor of the horrific acts in a country such as Russia, Hong Kong, South Sudan, Indonesia (Mack has filed petitions demanding exposure of the alleged security connection between Israel and all of these countries, among others), and sues one of the manufacturing companies for human rights violations. It could be an activist whose phone was hacked for information, or a torture survivor, or someone who lost his family to those weapons.
“The question to be asked, is what is corporate and legal responsibility of a given company, when it serves regimes and organizations that commit human rights violations? And furthermore—who will protect them? The Ministry of Defense? The Hight Court of Justice? For argument’s sake, let’s suppose that Israel’s High Court rejects a petition Israeli weapons in South Sudan, and them a refugee from there who lives nowadays in a third country files a lawsuit in his new country of residence against the Israeli company that sold said weapons? What will they say then, that the Israeli High Court said it’s OK? That is why, we must up out standards, act according to international law, be in line with the American and European policy.
“Let’s compare the defense and dual-use industries to a drug company: the goal is not an approval of the drug by the Israeli Ministry of Health—the goal is FDA approval. That’s the insurance policy that the product meets the required standards, and if any problem arises—you have the FDA seal of approval, a significant actor that sets international standards is behind you. Here, there is a bubble that will burst as soon as the first company gets in trouble. If something is done that is inconsistent with international law, then the claim ‘we acted in accordance with Israeli law’ will not hold water.”
Q: And such a change is something that the Ministry of Defense can undergo?
“It is very difficult to make extensive changes in government offices, which have a certain organizational and cultural DNA which already spans decades. I am not convinced that they have the right people with the gravitas to lead such a change. The Ministries of Defense and of Foreign Affairs don’t listen, don’t move with the times. But the potential for change can come from the companies themselves.
“Fear of legal entanglement aside, there’s the aspect of ethics, morality. Generally speaking, I believe that the employees, and also the senior managers, are normative people who want to make a living from working at a respectable place, be normal people who work at a normal, good company.
“I don’t think that they ever imagined they would ever be involved in assisting such horrible regimes that commit rape, murder, all sorts of atrocities—this is something that is certainly daunting. Talented people will think twice if they want to work at a place like that. And I think that the companies themselves, at least some of them, would be much happier working for legitimate, normal clients. In this context, I would like to positively mention Cellebrite, which sees itself as a civilian company, and announced of its own accord the cessation of exports to Russia, and also to Hong Kong earlier on. It wasn’t coerced by any external factor. Various companies already refer to ethical codes on their websites, people are starting to get it. I’m not saying that defense exports should stop. I’m saying that one must do it properly, in an internationally legitimate way, while taking accountability and responsibility on what is done and the possible consequences.”
The Israeli Ministry of Defense did not comment on the claims made in this article.
Cellebrite submitted the following response:
"Technology has fundamentally changed policing and law enforcement. As the world becomes more digital, our technology is involved in solving more and more cases, helping our customers accelerate justice and build a safer world every day.
Trusted by thousands of leading Law Enforcement agencies, our solutions help every year in millions of severe crime investigations around the globe, from child exploitation, rape and domestic violence, to anti-terror, human trafficking, along with many others.
We work with thousands of law enforcement agencies around the world who are committed to the lawful use of our technology to help build a safer world. To ensure our technology is used only for its intended purpose of protecting public safety and saving lives, we have developed robust controls, processes and technological capabilities.
We, at Cellebrite, remain fully committed to our core mission and values of protecting and saving lives, accelerating justice, and preserving data privacy."
