Will Open-Source Intelligence Liberate Palestine From Digital Occupation?

Open-source intelligence (OSINT) has not-so-quietly revolutionized the global flow of information during times of conflict. By piecing together publicly available content, like satellite images, cellphone videos, and social media posts, open-source analysts cut through the fog of war, exposing and publicizing critical intelligence once monopolized by state authorities. For Palestinians, open-source intelligence is a double-edged sword. On one hand, OSINT offers Palestinians low-cost, relatively accessible tools to collect and disseminate valuable information about the conflict in their region, potentially exposing war crimes or human rights violations that would otherwise go unreported or silenced by international outlets. On the other hand, Palestinians have found themselves unable to fully participate in the OSINT revolution, restricted by Israel’s tightening digital occupation and drowned out by Israeli open-source analysts who have proved neither impartial nor transparent. By obscuring Israeli war crimes and fueling narratives that misrepresent the reality of Israel’s occupation, Israel has transformed OSINT from a tool of objectivity to one of distortion. Yet, in theory, Israeli open-source malpractice should be counterbalanced by Palestinian open-source analysts. However, with Israel’s near-total control over the physical backbone of Palestinian digital infrastructure, which includes routine restrictions on internet access across the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinians often find themselves disconnected.

[Tariq Kenney-Shawa is a U.S. policy fellow at Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network.]