Israel Tech Guard
Israeli tech-volunteer group formed after 7 October 2023 that built the Words of Iron tool and said it worked "in close cooperation with the IDF and security services"
| Israel Tech Guard
| |
|---|---|
| Type | Volunteer technology group |
| Founded | October 2023 |
| Website | israeltechguard.org |
Israel Tech Guard is a volunteer group of Israeli technology workers formed after the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023. Its October 2023 website called it "an 'army' of citizen volunteers". The site said: "Collaborating closely with Israel's security agencies, our skilled team includes a wide spectrum of technical professionals from across the high-tech arena." It also said: "We are working in close cooperation with the IDF and security services to fill in the gaps".[1]
Projects
The archived site listed Words of Iron ("Empowering Advocacy by Automating Content"), a face-recognition project called Face Watch, and other tools. It sought "$1M dollars over the next 24-48 hours".[1] The Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab found that later versions of the site dropped the statement about the IDF.[2] Ctech described Words of Iron as one of the projects of a joint initiative called "IsraelTechGuards". It said the initiative brought together the National Information Directorate, the Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, other government offices and tech companies.[3]
MintPress News named the founders as Mor Ram-On, Ron Balter and Lior Mizrahi. It reported that the group was said to be backed by Elbit Systems, and that it had completed a project with Unit 9900 of Israeli military intelligence.[4] (Critical; single source.)
See also
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Israel Tech Guard, Home page (archived 25 October 2023) Wayback Machine. Israel Tech Guard-side.
- ↑ Online tool helps social media accounts amplify pro-Israel messages Digital Forensic Research Lab, Atlantic Council, 11 June 2024. Research.
- ↑ Ariela Karmel, Words of Iron: Combating propaganda and documenting the brutality of Hamas' crimes Ctech, 12 October 2023. Journalistic.
- ↑ Jessica Buxbaum, Free Speech Under Fire: How Israel's Tech Guard Is Killing Free Speech Online MintPress News, 2024. Critical.