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Whether it’s the kefiyyeh that they wear pulled over the face, which both hides the wearer and expresses his support for the killers of Hamas, or the other mask that they wear that has so many different names — ski-mask in the U.S., balaclavain the UK, cagoule in France, and passamontagna in Italy (this may be some sort of record: four widely-different names for the same article of clothing) — the brownshirts who have been stomping on American campuses want to be sure they will not be identified by the authorities as they unleash their physical and moral mayhem, harassing, and at times surrounding Jewish students so as to prevent them from leaving, all the while screaming anti-Israel slogans in their faces, or interrupting and trying to shut down Jewish professors in their classrooms, or entering campus buildings to paint pro-Hamas slogans on the walls, and even beating up janitorial staff who try to stop them — in one case, at Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall, a pro-Hamas group were vandalizing the building when one of the janitors tried to stop them. He was beaten so severely by the students that he had to be hospitalized for five days.
The pro-Hamas demonstrators on campuses across America who call for the destruction of Israel and its replacement by a 23rd Arab state (that is the meaning of “From the river to the sea/Palestine will be free”), or calling for attacks on Jews worldwide (“Globalize the Intifada”) will now be unable to hide their identities by wearing masks, thanks to new facial recognition software developed by Israeli engineers. “Technology being used to identify, report student protesters for possible deportation,” Associated Press,
When a protester was caught on video in January at a New York rally against Israel, only her eyes were visible between a mask and headscarf. But days later, photos of her entire face, along with her name and employer, were circulated online.
“Months of them hiding their faces went down the drain!” a fledgling technology company boasted in a social media post, claiming its facial-recognition tool had identified the woman despite the coverings.
She was anything but a lone target. The same software was also used to review images taken during months of pro-Palestinian marches at U.S. colleges. A right-wing Jewish group said some people identified with the tool were on a list of names it submitted to President Donald Trump’s administration, urging that they be deported in accordance with his call for the expulsion of foreign students who participated in “pro-jihadist” protests.
Other pro-Israel groups have enlisted help from supporters on campuses, urging them to report foreign students who participated in protests against the war in Gaza to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.
The push to identify masked protesters using facial recognition and turn them in is blurring the line between public law enforcement and private groups. And the efforts have stirred anxiety among foreign students worried that activism could jeopardize their legal status.
“It’s a very concerning practice. We don’t know who these individuals are or what they’re doing with this information,” said Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. “Essentially the administration is outsourcing surveillance.”
Why shouldn’t people who have been the objects of harassment and hate on campus be allowed to help the government identify their tormentors? They are not replacing the administration’s efforts at surveillance, but only supplementing it, by supplying photos of campus demonstrators and in some cases, using the new facial-recognition software developed by an Israeii, Eliyahu Hawila, that allows a face to be seen despite attempts to cover it up with a keffiyeh or a ski-mask, balaclava, cagoule, or passamontagna.
