Colluding with Violence: Aiding Israeli Settlers in the West Bank

18 August 2026 Dr Binoy Kampmark , https://theaimn.net/colluding-with-violence-aiding-israeli-settlers-in-the-west-bank/

The latest incidents of Israeli settler violence in the villages of Qusra and Kour, located in the northern occupied West Bank, have again caught international attention, reaching the halls of the United Nations with a gravity that, sadly, is unlikely to have much effect. Towards the end of July, the settlers had set their sights on local mosques, which they set on fire. From August 9, three families in Qusra – making up 15 people in all – were confined to their homes in terror, running out of food and necessities. (Settlers had deprived them of access to water and power.) 

When Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances attempted to deliver food and water to these homes, they were attacked.  

Unusually, this conduct drew public commentary from the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, a devout Christian Zionist not normally given to criticising Israeli actions in the West Bank, let alone anywhere else. “Actions by those who carried out this horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass this family are disgusting,” wrote Huckabee in a post on X. “No excuse for such thuggish behaviour.” The US embassy had been “VERY involved & the IDF & Israel Police have gone at our request to remove the Israeli terrorists doing this.” (More to the point, interest might have been encouraged by the fact that one of the besieged family members was a dual US citizen.)

Rather than restraining the agitators, the Israeli military proceeded to force two of the besieged families, along with six other neighbouring families, to exit their homes for several hours on August 13. UN News reported that families were subsequently relocated to just one home, also imperilled by the settlers. According to the testimony of one resident, “instead of removing the attackers, the Israeli forces removed the attacked families, while allowing the settlers to stay all this time.”

The mayor of Qusra, Abdel Azim Wadi, regarded the role of the Israeli military as pernicious and distinctly not committed to removing the settlers. “We saw them praying together, barbecuing together and dancing together.” They were hardly “interested in helping the besieged families.” The IDF even goes so far as to run a hotline known as War Room C, intended for use by settlers to report on building activities by Palestinians in Area C. The insinuation of fault is clear. The UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner summed up matters: “These criminal actions by the settlers, supported or acquiesced to by Israel, the Occupying power, are making life unbearable for these Palestinian families and are clearly aimed at forcing them to leave their home and their land.”

On August 11, Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Process, told the 15-member Security Council that what was unfolding in the West Bank was the result of “decades of unresolved conflict that has deepened the unlawful Israeli occupation, driven the Palestinian Authority to the brink of collapse and undermined the prospects of an independent, viable and sovereign Palestinian State.”

The picture sketched by Alakbarov is a dismal one, rendering Israeli authorities complicit with the unruly urges of the settlers. (Some 26% of territory in the West Bank is already regarded as “state land,” a status enabling it to be turned over for the construction of new settlements.) Since the start of 2026, approximately 12,360 housing units have beenapproved or advanced by the Israeli authorities in the West Bank. Hefty sums are being allocated for expanding the settlements, including $431 million in aid of 34 new settlements.

The year has also seen the deaths of 76 Palestinians in the territory, due to the work of Israeli forces or settlers. Of this complement, 18 have been children. Three Israelis have also been killed in confrontations with Palestinians. The displacement of the Palestinian population due to settler violence, demolitions and evictions continues with inexorable remorselessness: some 3,800, almost half of them children, have suffered that fate.“Many incidents occurred in the presence of Israeli forces,” insists Alakbarov.

The momentum towards annexation is also being given impetus by plans announced by the Israeli Defence Minister, Israel Katz, to replace the army in the West Bank with civilian police forces. Police would, according to Katz’s office, “establish an appropriate force to handle and address civilian matters,” with the military exclusively tasked with combating “Palestinian terrorism” and protecting borders and communities. The move received much support from various settler figures, with Yisrael Ganz, head of the Regional Binyamin Council in the West Bank, proposing that the next step be “full Israeli sovereignty” over the territory. “The time has come to move from temporary management to the full application of Israeli law.”

The official policy of the Netanyahu government is to regard the attacks as the nasty work of errant juveniles or delinquents who should know better. The thesis on delinquency is not one that holds up when placed alongside the official support for settlement expansion and de facto annexation stemming from Israel proper. The events in Qusra, as with elsewhere in the West Bank, suggest a script of insidious collaboration against the Palestinians, delivered with a forked tongue. The painful implication here is that temporary measures involving the besieging of villagers, and half-hearted efforts by the IDF to combat them, can only inevitably result in dispossession. And that, in the end, is the point.

August 28, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The Amazon faces a radioactive future

A team of German scientists from the Forschungszentrum Jülich studied the „Environmental impacts of rare earth production“ in several countries including China, Myanmar and Australia. They concluded in their 2022 published study: „The life cycle assessments have highlighted the main problems, such as large quantities of chemicals needed to process Rare Earth Elements and the large quantities of tailings generated during beneficiation, extraction and separation that contain the naturally occurring radionuclides Thorium and Uranium and their decay products. These radioactive elements can enter the environment through air, wastewater and rain leaching.“

By Norbert Suchanek, 25.08.26 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Pressenza New York https://www.pressenza.com/2026/08/the-amazon-faces-a-radioactive-future/

Rush for strategic minerals could turn the Brazilian Amazon into a radioactive sacrifice zone.

The world’s largest rainforest region could face a bleak and radioactive future—driven by new mining projects to extract strategic minerals essential for the global energy transition, the high-tech industry, artificial intelligence, and new weapons systems. Some of these minerals—such as niobium, tin, and rare earth elements—are found in deposits alongside radioactive uranium, thorium, and their radioactive decay products, all of which ultimately end up as mining waste called tailings.

The Amazon region is threatened by an unprecedented mining boom, in the name of sustainability and climate protection. It is at the center of a global race for strategic minerals considered essential for the global energy transition and decarbonization. These include, above all, niobium, copper, cobalt, lithium, nickel, tin and the 17 rare earth elements. They are also necessary for high-tech products like smartphones, war drones, missiles and AI Data centers. Brazil’s mining authority has already received thousands of applications for prospection and exploration in the Amazon, many of which are located near or within forest reserves and indigenous territories.

According to InfoAmazonia, a news organization that combines data, maps and geolocated reporting to tell stories about the planet’s largest continuous tropical forest, there are 5,046 mining applications to exploit essential substances for the energy transition in the Brazilian Amazon Biome. 1,205 of these applications are related to areas that impact Indigenous Lands and 1,207 overlap Conservation Units.

In 2025, an exclusive survey by Brazilian investigative news outlet “Repórter Brasil” identified 1,827 mining requests for copper, lithium, rare earth elements, and 13 other minerals less than 40 kilometer from isolated indigenous groups.

In its official „Guide for Foreign Investors 2026“ the Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) expects a strong increase of Brazil’s mineral reserves from the expansion of geological knowledge and the success of ongoing exploration projects.

“Investments will prioritize the following strategic minerals: Cobalt, Copper, Tin, Graphite, Lithium, Manganese, Platinum Group Metals, Molybdenum, Niobium, Nickel, Silicon, Tantalum, Rare Earths, Titanium, Tungsten, Uranium, Vanadium, Zinc, Phosphate, Potassium.”

According to geological studies potential rare earth deposits can be found in the Amazonian states of Amazonas, Rondônia, Roraima, Pará, and Tocantins. One of the largest reserves identified in Brazil is the Morro dos Seis Lagos deposite at São Gabriel da Cachoeira in the Amazonas state.

However, the mining and processing of rare earths and other critical minerals are a dirty business that can have serious consequences for the environment, workers and local populations. Mining, especially open-pit mining requires clearing large areas of land to access mineral deposits. Rainforest has also to be cleared for the necessary workers’ settlements and access roads. These new highways, in particular, attract landless settlers, land speculators, and illegal loggers who deforest further areas along the routes as observed throughout the Amazon region for decades. But that’s just the tip of the “dirty” iceberg of rare earths and critical mineral production.

High risk of radioactive contamination

There is a threat of widespread contamination of soil, air, and water with toxic substances, heavy metals, and even radioactive elements. This is because some of the critical or strategic minerals such as niobium, tin and rare earth elements occur in the soil in association with radioactive uranium, thorium and their radioactive decay products.

The contamination starts with the first blast. Radioactive and toxic dust caused by the explosions spreads over the mining area. The more rock that has to be blasted and removed, the more dust is generated. The amount of dust can be reduced by irrigation systems. However, that creates sewage containing radioactive substances and  heavy metals that can enter soil and water resources. The highly hazardous tailings, which are mixtures of crushed rocks and processing fluids from mills and concentrators have to be stored in artificial lakes or ponds for a long time. Studies show, every tonne of rare earths mined generates up to 2,000 tonnes of toxic and radioactive waste.

In addition the beneficiation process and refining of rare earths need a huge amount of energy and chemicals. Flotation tailings, up to 40 tons per ton of produced rare earth oxide, that include radioactive elements, are also discharged into the open tailings ponds which poses toxicity risks to water, soil, and air through leakage, dust formation, and rain erosion. In addition refining processes generate also huge amounts of dangerous gas. Each ton of rare earth elements produced in China releases 9,600 to 12,000 cubic meters of toxic gas containing flue dust concentrate, hydrofluoric acid, sulfur dioxide, and sulfuric acid, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology factsheet “Mission 2016 – The Future of Strategic Natural Resources“.

A team of German scientists from the Forschungszentrum Jülich studied the „Environmental impacts of rare earth production“ in several countries including China, Myanmar and Australia. They concluded in their 2022 published study: „The life cycle assessments have highlighted the main problems, such as large quantities of chemicals needed to process Rare Earth Elements and the large quantities of tailings generated during beneficiation, extraction and separation that contain the naturally occurring radionuclides Thorium and Uranium and their decay products. These radioactive elements can enter the environment through air, wastewater and rain leaching.“

It should also be noted that rare earth elements are toxic to humans and animals. Recent toxicological studies show that rare earths can enter the human body through various pathways such as inhalation, ingestion and dermal contact. They accumulate in different tissues or organs and ultimately posing a serious threat to human health. A 2024 published study considers exposure to Rare Earth Elements as „a public health issue of global importance“. Possible consequences include lung diseases, neurological damage, cardiovascular dysfunction, reproductive harm, and increased risks of cancer and genetic damage.

Dams can and do break.

After all, one of the major risks to the Amazon basin is the enormous amount of tailings from the mining operations, which are stored in  huge ponds secured by artificial dams. To avoid radioactive leakage they must be monitored, and permanently managed for a very long time. However, dams can break, as has happened in the past in various countries around the world. Regions with naturally occurring heavy rainfall, such as the Amazon and the Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil, are particularly vulnerable to dam breaches.

In Brazil, there have already been dozens tailings dam failures in mining areas that led to severe environmental disasters. The two worst dam collapses in Brazil to date occurred in Mariana in 2015 and in Brumadinho in 2019, both located in the Atlantic Rainforest region of the southeastern state of Minas Gerais.

Case studies on radioactive contamination from rare earth production

Radioactive contamination resulting from the extraction of rare earths and strategic minerals is neither an unfounded hypothesis nor science fiction. It has already occurred—for instance, in Malaysia during the 1980s: Radioactive waste from the rare earth processing plant of Asian Rare Earth and the Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation poisoned the local population of Bukit Merah. „When the Mitsubishi joint venture plant opened over 1982, the villagers soon began complaining of the factory’s stinging smoke and bad smell which made them choke and cry. Worse was to come. Their health began failing, indicated not only by frequent bouts of coughs and colds, but a sharp rise in the incidence of leukemia, infant deaths, congenital disease and lead poisoning“, remembers the Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP). The affected population protested and went to court. Finally, in 1994, the Bukit Merah plant closed. The rare earth company left behind its radioactive waste, stored in 80,000 drums of 200 liters each in a dump site just three kilometers outside from Bukit Merah.

Another „dirty“ rare earth mining hotspot is Myanmar, also in Southeast Asia. This country is one of the largest rare earth exploiters in the world serving the Chinese industry for years with dear consequences. The mines along the Myanmar-China border generate radioactive waste and chemical contaminants that seep into waterways, degrading local ecosystems and disproportionately impacting indigenous populations.

A research by Thailand’s Naresuan University found that water samples taken from areas of extraction in Kachin State were severely contaminated with radioactive elements, toxic heavy metals and other harmful substances. In 2025, the policy brief “Kachin, a Sacrifice Zone for the Green Transition” of the EarthRights organization in Washington DC brought to light the environmental destruction and human rights violations resulting from the mining of heavy rare earth elements in Myanmar: „Mining in Kachin is leaving creeks and rivers dangerously contaminated with heavy metals and radioactive elements.“ Worse: These rivers are tributaries of the great Mekong, one of the most fish-biodiverse rivers in the world and a food source for millions of people.

„Toxic runoff from these (Rare Earth) mines is polluting transboundary rivers that run from Myanmar into Thailand and then into the Mekong mainstream. People living in the affected areas cannot use the rivers for fishing, their agricultural products are shunned at markets in Thailand, and they fear their bodies are being exposed to toxins“, wrote the Stimson Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C., in its 2025 published field note „Toxic Rare Earth Mining is Ruining Mekong Tributaries in the Golden Triangle.“

Even in the Amazon basin, mining activities have already led to radioactive contamination on at least one occasion.

In 1993, a tailings dam at the Pitinga open pit mine in the state of Amazonas at Presidente Figueiredo municipality, roughly 130 kilometers north of Manaus collapsed, contaminating the Tiaraju River of the Waimiri Atroari indigenous territory with heavy metals and radioactive elements. Pitinga was established in 1981 during the military dictatorship by the mining company “Mineração Taboca” and has produced mainly tin ore and niobium since 1982. However, the polymetallic deposit also contains other strategic minerals such as tantalum, rare earth elements and the radionuclides thorium and uranium, which are eventually found in the tailings and processing residues.

“The dam collapse at the Pitinga mine is serious and should concern the entire community, as there is evidence that the company released radioactive minerals that could cause irreversible environmental damage,” warned the Indigenist Missionary Council (CIMI) at the time. The Waimiri Atroari reported cases of tooth loss, hair loss, and leukemia: typical symptoms and consequences of radiation exposure or radioactive contamination.

Egydio Schwade, a co-founder of the Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi) and resident of Presidente Figueiredo, witnessed already in 1985 the discharging of Pitinga’s mining waste into the Tiaraju Stream, a tributary of the Alalaú River, which serves as the lifeblood of the Waimiri-Atroari Reserve and flows into the Rio Negro. „Conditions worsened significantly in the years that followed — 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, and 1992 — due to the successive failure of containment dams“, he remembers in his 2016 published report „Criminal Mining: A Testimony“.

Another accusation comes from the indigenist Porfírio Carvalho of  Brazil’s Indigenous affairs agency (FUNAI). In 1987, he denounced the collapse of nine dams of the Pitinga mine, which polluted the Riaraju, Alalaú, and Jauaperi rivers and threatened the fauna and flora of the Amazon. Although he did not mention radioactive contamination due to a lack of technical analysis, he described it as a large-scale ecological disaster in the region. Carvalho has been accompanying the Waimiri Atroari since the late 1960s. He died in 2017 from cancer, aged 70.

The mining company Mineração Taboca, which operates the Pitinga Mine in Amazonas, was sold in November 2024 to the Chinese state-owned company CNMC (China Nonferrous Metal Mining Company) for US$340 million. The Chinese company aims to quadruple production at Pitinga. In addition it plans to exploit the mine’s rare earth minerals. Pitinga is considered a potential “hotspot” for large-scale rare earth mining in the Amazon. These elements are present not only in the primary ore body of Pitinga but also in the more than 6,000 hectares of tailings ponds that contain more than 100 million tonnes of waste rock.

According to the Global Environmental Justice Atlas (EJAtlas) the Pitinga mining complex is emblematic for Brazil’s historical injustice against indigenous peoples and the systematic downplaying of environmental pollution and the risks associated with tailings dams.

“China’s recent acquisition of Pitinga in November 2024 escalates threats from rare earth extraction, intensifying impacts on fragile ecosystems and the rights of Indigenous peoples.“

Norbert Suchanek is an experienced journalist based in Rio de Janeiro Born in Germany in 1963, Norbert Suchanek has been researching and writing about environmental and human rights issues since 1988. In 2025, he received the Nuclear-Free Future Award in the Education category in New York City. He is also co-founder of the International Uranium Film Festival.

August 27, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

UK Cabinet Office declines to share information it holds about PM’s nuke orders options

Tom Pashby, Aug 26, 2026, https://tompashby.substack.com/p/cabinet-office-declines-to-share?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=6735486&post_id=212821041&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=ln98x&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

The Cabinet Office has confirmed to 20 Working Days that it holds information regarding what options the Prime Minister has in terms of the orders they can give to nuclear-armed submarine captains in their ‘Letters of last resort’, but said it is withholding the information.

It is widely understood that one of the first tasks a Prime Minister has on walking through the door to Number 10 Downing Street is writing the letters to the captains of Trident submarines – the UK’s continuous-at-sea-deterrent.

The letters are written so that, if communications are not possible between the submarine and the wider military and political command and control structure, the submarine captains are able to find out what they should do by reading the pre-written letters which are believed to be sealed until they are needed.

The existence of the letters was confirmed by the MOD in an internal review of a FOI request in 2015. The results of the internal review were addressed to a Mr D Black.

In 2016, just before Theresa May took over the role from David Cameron, the Guardian reported: “The options are said to include the orders “Put yourself under the command of the US, if it is still there”; “Go to Australia”; “Retaliate”; or “Use your own judgment”.”

On 4 July 2026, using the FOI Act, 20 Working Days asked the MOD to share “any documents which show whether the options include the orders ‘Put yourself under the command of the US, if it is still there’; ‘Go to Australia’; ‘Retaliate’; or ‘Use your own judgment’,” as per the reporting in the Guardian.

In response, on 16 July, the MOD said: “As the letters are administered by the Cabinet Office, you may wish to approach them regarding […] what options the letters might contain.”

On the same day, 20 Working Days put that question to the Cabinet Office.

On 17 August, the Cabinet Office responded and said: “We are writing to advise you that following a search of our paper and electronic records, we have established that the information you requested is held by the Cabinet Office.

“Information you have requested is exempt under section 24(1) of the Freedom of Information Act. Section 24 exempts information from disclosure if its exemption is required for the purpose of safeguarding national security.”

It added that “Section 24 is a qualified exemption and we have considered whether the balance of the public interest favours releasing or withholding this information”, and confirmed “we have determined that the balance of the public interest favours withholding this Information”.

The Cabinet Office was approached for comment.

August 27, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The Antisemitism Cover

22 August 2026 Dr Andrew Klein & Sera Elizabeth Klein, https://theaimn.net/the-antisemitism-cover/

The Antisemitism Cover: How Australia’s Education Reforms, Israel Lobby, and Palantir Are Connected

Dedication: To the 73,000 Palestinian civilians whose lives became the testing data. To the 800,000 disabled Australians whose data is now being weaponised against them. And to every person who has been told that surveillance is safety, that profit is progress, and that the truth is antisemitic. We see you. We remember you. And we will not forget.

Abstract

This article examines the interconnected web of Australian education policy, the antisemitism envoy network, and the Palantir surveillance apparatus. We demonstrate that the Albanese government’s antisemitism initiatives – framed as a response to rising hatred – are in fact a cover for protecting a network of business interests connecting Australian education policy, Israeli AI investment, and the surveillance state. We trace the thread from the Dawkins and Gonski education reforms to the appointment of David Gonski and Jillian Segal as leaders of the antisemitism taskforce, to Segal’s dual role as Chair of the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce, to the embedding of Palantir – the same company providing targeting data to Israel in Gaza – into Australian government systems. We conclude that the antisemitism agenda is not about combating hate but about protecting a multibillion-dollar investment in AI surveillance technology that has already failed in military applications and is now being tested on Australia’s most vulnerable citizens.

1. Introduction: The Thread That Connects

In December 2025, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the establishment of a 12-month Antisemitism Education Taskforce, chaired by David Gonski AC. The taskforce includes Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal AO. On its face, this appears to be a good-faith effort to combat rising hatred. But a closer examination reveals something else entirely: a network of business and political interests connecting Australian education policy, Israeli AI investment, and the surveillance state.

This paper traces the thread from the Dawkins reforms of the late 1980s through the Gonski education reviews to the present day, demonstrating that the antisemitism agenda is a cover for protecting business interests—specifically, the multibillion-dollar investment in Palantir Technologies and the Israeli AI industry it serves.

2. The Education Reforms: Creating the Management Framework

2.1 The Dawkins Review (1987-1988)

The higher education reforms introduced by Minister John Dawkins in 1987 and 1988 consisted of growth, institutional rationalisation, the modernisation of management and the establishment of links with industry, user pays arrangements and a more corporate culture. The Dawkins reforms were targeted at improving the efficiency and international competitiveness of Australian universities.

2.2 The Gonski Review

The Gonski Review of Funding for Schooling was commissioned in 2010 and conducted by an expert panel headed by senior businessman and philanthropist David Gonski. The review was the most comprehensive investigation of Australian schools’ funding in the last 40 years. It contained 41 recommendations, including an increase of $5 billion per year to schools funding. The Gonski Review linked quality educational outcomes for students to increased national productivity.

3. The Antisemitism Network: Same People, Same Interests

3.1 David Gonski: From Education to Antisemitism

David Gonski AC, who led the school funding review, is now Chair of the Antisemitism Education Taskforce. The taskforce was announced on 18 December 2025 and will complete a final report in December 2026. Gonski has stated that the taskforce will “support schools and educators to help students at all stages of their education journey to combat antisemitism and other forms of discrimination.”

3.2 Jillian Segal: The Israel Lobby Nexus

Jillian Segal AO, Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, occupies a unique position at the intersection of power. Her credentials include:

• Chair of the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce (NSW)
• Former President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry
• Member of the International Board of Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science
• Director of Rabobank Australia Limited, the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, and the Grattan Institute of Public Policy
• Former Director of ASX Ltd and National Australia Bank Ltd

The Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce is “one of this country’s most prestigious big business lobbies” that remains “cozy with Israeli bosses and weapons contractors.” Segal’s office provides the framework that silences critics.

3.3 The $50,000 Donation

Records show a company co-directed by Jillian Segal’s husband donated $50,000 in 2024 to Advance, a lobby group which campaigned against Albanese and pro-Palestine protests. Segal denied involvement, but the donation reveals the network’s financial interests.

3.4 The Royal Commission Testimony

At the Royal Commission, Segal claimed the Gaza death toll was “grossly inflated” and “inaccurate.” When pressed to share evidence to support her claim, she could not provide it. This is not the testimony of someone seeking truth – it is the testimony of someone protecting an investment.

4. The Palantir Connection: From Gaza to the NDIS

4.1 Palantir in Gaza

Palantir Technologies has become a key partner in military AI operations. The company signed a $10 billion agreement with the US military and has become a key partner in the Pentagon’s Maven program, which uses AI for target identification and battlefield analysis.

In January 2024, Palantir announced a strategic partnership with Israel’s Defense Ministry to provide technology for “war-related missions.” Palantir co-founders Alex Karp and Peter Thiel held a board meeting in Tel Aviv in January 2024 and met Israeli President Isaac Herzog. Karp said demand from Israel for the company’s services had increased after October 7, 2023.

Reports indicate Palantir’s systems have been deployed in Gaza, Lebanon, and operations linked to Iran. Former Microsoft employee Ibtihal Aboussad alleged that “Palantir is essentially weaponizing artificial intelligence and also weaponizing data analysis to make deadly decisions.” The group Open Intel alleges that Palantir’s software combines intercepted communications, satellite imagery and other data to help Israeli forces generate military targeting lists.

4.2 Palantir in Australia

Palantir has secured more than $50 million in Australian government contracts since 2013, largely across defence and national security-related agencies. The Department of Defence bypassed the open market to award Palantir a $7.6 million contract. Defence justified the sole-source deal by claiming no other software could match Palantir’s ability.

AUSTRAC awarded Palantir an $8.1 million contract for data analytics in 2023, subsequently executing five variations in just 12 months, pushing the total value past $12 million. The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) has committed about $5.7 million to the firm across multiple contracts.

4.3 The NDIS Infiltration

The government has secretly inserted Palantir into its automated decision system inside the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). If the NDIS Amendment Bill passes, a computer program will have the authority to cut a disabled person’s funding. If the program gets it wrong, section 59E(3) of the Bill provides that the decision stands anyway – there is no appeal.

Freedom of Information documents show the NDIA engaged with Palantir from April 2023 to February 2024, including a Proof of Concept and Palantir’s Foundry Cloud Architecture Diagram. In November 2025, Palantir received its Protected-level security clearance – the level at which NDIS participant files sit.

The NDIA declined to release all 22 documents, citing business information exemptions – protecting Palantir’s commercial interests rather than the public’s right to know. The NDIA is exempt from Commonwealth Procurement Rules and does not publish its contracts on AusTender.

4.4 The Surveillance Reality

A Palantir training manual shows analysts how to search through 42 million pieces of data collected on Australians. The system automatically adds warrant numbers to calls and texts, maps flows between numbers, and plots locations. Permissions are set to “everyone” by default because it “enhances the agency’s discovery capabilities.”

5. Gaza as the Testing Ground

The pattern is clear: Gaza was the testing ground for AI-powered targeting. The US and Israel, which previously used AI to identify targets in Gaza, launched almost 900 strikes on Iranian targets in the first 12 hours of the Iran war. Palantir’s system uses machine learning to identify and prioritise targets and recommend weaponry.

Palantir has recruited former members of Unit 8200, Israel’s elite cyberintelligence division. The company’s AI systems enable “lethal targeting” and “function as a shield protecting Israel from legal accountability.”

The same technology that helped generate kill lists in Gaza is now being used to cut funding for disabled Australians.

6. Israel’s Planned AI Hub

Israel has sought to position itself as the AI hub for the Middle East – a business model of never-ending wars and “innovation” built on death. The Pax Silica Declaration, signed by Australia, Israel, the US, and others, commits signatories to “secure the future of AI.” Palantir’s revenue surged 93% year-on-year in the second quarter, reaching $1.94 billion. CEO Alex Karp called it “otherworldly.”

This is not about security. This is about business.

7. The Government Knows

The Albanese government knows what Palantir is. It knows the company’s technology is being used to target and kill Palestinians. It knows the company’s CEO has spoken proudly of their AI “killing Palestinians.” It knows Palantir has been accused of facilitating human rights abuse.

And yet it:

• Awards Palantir $60 million in contracts
• Allows the Future Fund to hold $160 million in Palantir shares
• Secretly embeds Palantir in the NDIS
• Removes the right of appeal for decisions made by Palantir’s algorithms
• Appoints the Chair of the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce as antisemitism envoy

This is not ignorance. This is design.

8. Conclusion: The Business Model of Betrayal

The antisemitism envoy is not about combating hate. It is about protecting a network of business interests that connects Australian education policy, Israeli AI, and the surveillance state.

The thread runs from:

• Dawkins and Gonski creating the management framework for a corporate education system
• Gonski and Segal leading the antisemitism network
• Segal promoting Israeli AI investment through the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce
• Palantir connecting Australian data to Israeli targeting
• The government protecting the investment at all costs

The Albanese government is not worried about antisemitism – it is worried about protecting a failed investment. The antisemitism agenda is a cover for a business model built on surveillance, death, and the sacrifice of the vulnerable.

When the truth emerges, the government will claim it didn’t know. But we know the truth. And we will not forget.

References

1. Australian Government, Higher Education: A Policy Discussion Paper (Dawkins Review), 1987
2. Australian Government, Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in Australian Schools (Gonski Review), 2018
3. Australian Government, Antisemitism Education Taskforce Established, 18 December 2025
4. Australian Government, Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Announcement, 18 December 2024
5. Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce NSW, Jillian Segal AO Profile
6. Michael West Media, ”Robodebt on Steroids: Palantir infiltrates NDIS,” 18 August 2026
7. Crikey, “Calls, messages, police records: How Palantir helped an intelligence agency analyse 42 million data points on Australians,” 27 April 2026
8. Canberra Times, “Defence skips competitive tender process to award Palantir multimillion-dollar contract,” 28 February 2026
9. Anadolu Agency, “Palantir AI technologies used in Israeli attacks, say reports,” 10 May 2026
10. Anadolu Agency, “Palantir revenue surges 93% amid criticism over support for Israel’s Gaza war,” 4 August 2026
11. The Guardian, “Iran war heralds era of AI-powered bombing quicker than ‘speed of thought’,” 3 March 2026
12. The Guardian, “Palantir deals are a threat to our data rights as UK citizens,” 23 February 2026
13. Asia Pacific Report, “‘We kill enemies’ – spy firm Palantir secures top Australian security clearance,” 21 Januar ,
14. ABC News, “Universities could lose accreditation for funding with failure to commit to addressing antisemitism,” 30 June 2026

August 26, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

29 AUGUST – Webinar JOIN US: PROTECT BETTER

Protect Better Webinar Series: International Perspectives

Aug 27, 2026 10:00 AM in Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney, https://psr-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ezLPDW7dRSWIPgDa3OWaVQ#/registration

How do proposed changes to U.S. radiation exposure standards compare to policies in the rest of the world? Hear from two experts on community and worker health who are raising concerns about what NRC’s weaker protections could mean internationally.

Experts include Tony Webb, MSc, PhD — an expert on radiation and health with decades of experience advocating for the health of nuclear workers worldwide.

Tilman Ruff, AO is an infectious diseases and public health physician at the University of Melbourne. He is the former co-president of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and has extensive experience with the health impacts of radiation exposure. Webinar will also include comment submission walkthrough, and exploration of regulations.gov resources and current comments.

August 24, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | Leave a comment