Tel Aviv University developed live dog cameras for army unit linked to Gaza attacks
Tel Aviv University is running an “engineering war room” developing technology for the Israeli army including a live-streaming facility for a dog-mounted camera used by a canine unit linked to deadly attacks on Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
Details of the work are revealed in a video posted on social media by the university last week which described how it had opened a “war room” on campus to support hundreds of academics and students serving as reservists in the army.
“Did you know that since the beginning of the war there is a war room operating on campus taking care of our fighters on the ground?” says the presenter of the video, who is identified as a graduate of the university.
The video noted that the highest proportion of serving soldiers had come from the faculty of engineering. It said that an “engineering war room” had also been established to “invent solutions for the challenges of our fighters on the front line”.
It goes on to describe how one of these innovations has enabled soldiers in the army's canine unit to live stream footage from the cameras worn by its dogs.
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“We have developed a cheap and immediate solution that allows for the live streaming from the dog’s camera to soldiers on the ground - it didn’t exist until now,” says the video.
The army’s “Oketz” canine unit has been linked to a number of brutal attacks on Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
In July, Middle East Eye reported on the death of Muhammad Bhar, a 24-year-old man with severe Down’s syndrome, who was left to die by Israeli soldiers after being mauled by army dogs in his family home in eastern Gaza City.
His decomposed body was found by his family a week later.
The Israeli army confirmed that its soldiers had abandoned Bhar alone in order to treat soldiers injured in an RPG attack on a tank. "The IDF regrets the harm to civilians during the fighting," a spokesperson said.
In June, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said the Israeli army was systematically using dogs to attack Palestinian civilians in Gaza after a video emerged of a 60-year-old woman being mauled by a dog in her home in the Jabalia refugee camp.
Describing the attack, Dawlat Al-Tanani noted that the dog was wearing a camera on its back.
“I woke up to the sound of Israeli forces breaking through the wall and into my home. A dog wearing a camera on its back attacked me in a matter of seconds, biting my shoulder and eventually reaching my bone with its fangs,” said Tanani.
“He dragged me outside. As I screamed loudly, the soldiers laughed and offered me no assistance or medical attention.”
Links to the military
According to the Tel Aviv University video, at least 1,700 students from the university have fought since the start of the war in October 2023, with about 400 reservists remaining on active duty.
The university has well established links to the military that predate the current wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
Last year the university launched an initiative called the “Erez” programme which allowed trainee army officers to study for degrees in humanities and social science subjects.
The programme prompted complaints about militarisation in education from student groups, especially those representing Palestinian citizens of Israel.
'Some of my fellow students are taking part in war rooms, designing more efficient methods to carry out the genocide in Gaza'
- Palestinian student at Tel Aviv University
But it was backed by Rachel Gali Cinamon, the head of the faculty of humanities, who told the +972 website: "I don’t think there is another army in the world that does such a thing, that trains soldiers in humanistic values during military service."
Some Palestinian students at the university have told Middle East Eye they feel increasingly isolated on campus.
“I walk through the university knowing some of my fellow students are taking part in war rooms, designing more efficient methods to carry out the genocide in Gaza,” said one who declined to be identified over fears they could be suspended for speaking out.
“This marriage of militarism and educational institutions makes it extremely challenging to seriously engage with my studies, as I constantly question the ideology behind what we're being taught.”
Israeli academia is coming under growing scrutiny over its links to the military and alleged war crimes, with many international institutions suspending ties with the country’s universities.
On Thursday, Amnesty International became the latest organisation to accuse Israel of waging a campaign of genocide in Gaza, where nearly 45,000 Palestinians have been killed according to the Palestinian health ministry.
The Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign has long called for an academic boycott of Israeli universities which it accuses of “complicity in Israel’s violations of international law”.
In April, Israeli academics from institutions including Tel Aviv University told Haaretz that they faced an “unprecedented global boycott” because of international outrage over Gaza.
But some note that academics have been slower to speak out about the conduct of the war itself and have criticised university leaders for failing to take responsibility for their institutions’ links to the military.
Speaking to MEE, Anat Matar, a retired lecturer in philosophy at Tel Aviv University, criticised recent comments by Milette Shamir, the university’s vice president for international affairs, in which Shamir said she often only became aware of collaborations with the military “when a university in Belgium informs me that our faculty members have been removed from a research project”.
“How is it that she didn’t bother to know these things?" said Matar. "At least her job is to know what contribution her institution is making to deepening the occupation.”
Middle East Eye has contacted Tel Aviv University for comment.
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