London’s Met Police are trialling Israeli-developed SandCat armoured vehicles, previously “battle-tested” in Gaza, for high-risk operations involving “serious public disorder”.
SandCats are manufactured by Israeli defence company Plasan, which for over three decades has been a key supplier of deadly equipment to the Israeli military.
According to Israel Defence, Plasan supplied up to 700 SandCats to the Israeli military following the start of Israel’s ongoing genocide on Gaza.
Great example of what Cory Doctorow calls the Shitty Tech Adoption Curve:
If you want to do something terrible with technology, you can’t just roll it out on people with money and social capital. They’ll complain and your idea will tank. Successful shitty tech rollouts start with people you can abuse with impunity (prisoners, kids, migrants, etc) and then work their way up the privilege gradient.
You’ve seen them used in the genocide of Palestinians, now you can see them driving in person from the comfort of your own home, as they smash through your house chasing a shoplifter!
For fucks sake. Skip the swasticars and go right for the genocide mobiles. Do they come with a civilian strapped to the hood or do you have to supply that yourself?
That… is not a good sign.
This happens a lot. https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/cruel-experiments-israels-arms-industry
Why though? Did England steal the 2nd Amendment while we were all distracted by the oligarch cat fight?
It’s real disheartening to see other places following America’s lead.
Water, land and food wars are here.
