Counter-Surveillance as Activism: Cameras Against State Violence in Israel/Palestine

The talk defines counter-surveillance as ordinary people monitoring states and corporations instead of being monitored by them. Drawing on three years of fieldwork and interviews with more than 80 people, the speaker focuses on anti-occupation activists in the West Bank who film violence by Israeli settlers and security forces. Most of the cameras are carried by Israeli and international solidarity activists working alongside Palestinians, and they are used both to deter abuses and to record them. The speaker describes the rural context of small farming and herding communities, and how a mobile network of activists moves between villages on shifts.

The middle of the talk looks at what happens to the footage. Activists send it to journalists, rights groups, social media accounts and sometimes courts. The speaker explains that legal geography shapes the outcome: Palestinians live under military law while settlers fall under civilian law, so outsiders face lower risk and their footage carries more weight. Complaints by Palestinians often stall at checkpoints or police stations inside settlements, and conviction rates for settler and soldier violence are very low. The main legal value of the video has been defensive, helping to disprove false charges against Palestinians.

The speaker argues that the impact goes beyond court outcomes. The work builds trust and long-term relationships, changes the views of participants, and keeps a record of events against efforts to erase Palestinian presence. The talk closes with the killing of an activist and the impunity that followed, presenting it as typical rather than exceptional. The audience left with a clear sense of how power, law and footage interact in this setting.