Anti-Palestine groups in the United States are utilizing facial recognition technology to identify and report pro-Palestinian activists to US federal authorities, a new investigation has found. 

According to an Associated Press (AP) investigation, foreign activists participating in widespread campus protests against US support for the Israeli genocide in Gaza are being exposed by pro-Israeli organizations using artificial intelligence-based surveillance tools.

The report identifies a New York-based software engineer, Eliyahu Hawila, as the creator of a facial recognition tool named NesherAI, which he provided to the Zionist group Betar US. This organization then used the tool to expose masked demonstrators, compiling a list of identified activists and handing it over to US federal officials to take action against them.

“It’s a very concerning practice,” said Abed Ayoub, National Executive Director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. “Essentially, the administration is outsourcing surveillance.”

Trump's brutal crackdown on students 

US President Donald Trump has vowed to crack down on student demonstrators, labeling their activism as “un-American activity.” Upon returning to the White House, he signed an executive order instructing officials to deport foreign students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests.

Federal agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), have since intensified efforts to track and expel foreign students engaged in activism against the US-Israeli genocide in Gaza.

“It might be more than 300 at this point. We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week when asked about the ongoing crackdown on pro-Palestinian students and academics.

The Trump administration has also threatened to ban certain universities from enrolling foreign students if their students are found to be participating in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

“Please tell everyone you know who is at a university to file complaints about foreign students and faculty who support Hamas,” wrote Elizabeth Rand, president of Mothers Against Campus Antisemitism, in a January 21 post to more than 60,000 Facebook followers. Her message included a link to an ICE tip line.

In early February, messages from a chat group frequented by Israelis in New York were leaked online. “Do you know students at Columbia or any other university who are here on a study visa and participated in demonstrations against Israel?” one message, written in Hebrew, read.

“If so, now is our time!” the message added, along with a link to the ICE hotline.

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