It's all Lavender in Gaza

Abstract

This guest editorial examines Israel's deployment of the AI program Lavender in Gaza as a significant shift in counterinsurgency warfare, moving from traditional hearts-and-minds campaigns to algorithmic targeting. Drawing on investigative reporting and anthropological perspectives on algorithms, it analyses how Lavender transforms warfare through four critical stages: problematic initial parameters, systematic matching errors, declining human oversight, and erosion of moral responsibility. While the system presents a veneer of precision targeting, its flexible thresholds and high acceptable civilian casualty ratios enable mass civilian casualties while providing bureaucratic legitimacy. The analysis suggests this fusion of AI and killing represents a concerning precedent that could proliferate to other conflicts unless decisively addressed.