In a searing address to a sold-out crowd in Sydney on Saturday night 28 June 2025, award-winning Australian investigative journalist Antony Loewenstein declared that Israel has quietly become the world’s most dangerous superpower, wielding weapons, surveillance technology, and AI systems perfected on Palestinians to control populations across many countries.

After the premiere screening of The Palestine Laboratory at Dendy Cinemas in Newtown, Loewenstein laid bare how Israel’s unique fusion of military, intelligence, and technology industries — tested on occupied Palestinian populations — has transformed it into a global leader in repressive technology, arms sales and digital warfare.

The event was hosted by Palestine Justice Movement Sydney and The Jewish Council of Australia, drawing a packed audience eager to hear one of the world’s most outspoken critics of Israeli policy.

“The Palestine Laboratory explains so much,” Loewenstein told attendees during a riveting Q&A moderated by Ahmed Alabadla, a Palestinian activist from Gaza whose own family remains sheltering in Khan Younis.

“Israel is a tiny country with a tiny population. Yet it is now the eighth biggest arms dealer in the world, with sales reaching $15 billion last year alone.”

Weapons tested in Gaza and West Bank sold to the World

Loewenstein’s core thesis, explored in both his book and the new documentary, is that Israel has turned the occupation of Palestine into a live laboratory.

Weapons, drones, spyware, and AI systems are first deployed on Palestinians before being aggressively marketed as “battle-tested” at arms fairs across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

“The majority of nations on the planet have bought some form of Israeli repressive tech,” he said. “Democracies, dictatorships, often anti-Semitic regimes — there is no ideology, only sales.”

Loewenstein presented overwhelming evidence of Israel’s reach: from India, the largest buyer of Israeli arms for years, to European countries scrambling for missile defences after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and even to Arab states whose elites, he charged, are “utterly complicit” despite Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza.

A Jewish voice against Israeli supremacy

As a Jewish Australian, Loewenstein used his identity to challenge Israel’s claim to speak for all Jews worldwide — a point he has made for over 20 years.

“What’s happening in Gaza is about Palestinians. But this is being done in my name as a Jew,” he said. “Israel constantly claims to represent world Jewry. And there’s a sizeable and growing proportion of Jews globally who say if this is what Judaism means, I’m out.”

He argued that the ideology fuelling Israel’s policies draws on a dangerous sense of “Jewish supremacy,” rooted in Zionism’s colonial origins and a narrative of divine entitlement shaped by the Holocaust.

“It creates a mindset for those who believe it that we have an almost God-given right… How dare you criticise us? Open your mouth: Holocaust. Open your mouth: Nazis. And that is an incredibly powerful silencer.”

‘Genocide Mania’ and deep hatred

Loewenstein pointed to disturbing polling data showing rising support among Israeli Jews for ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians.

“There is real genocide mania within Israeli Jewish mainstream society,” he said, referencing polls that show a majority now endorses the destruction of Gaza.

He added: “There is a deep mainstream contempt and hatred for Arabs, Palestinians, and Muslims.”

Australia’s role in the killing fields

Directly confronting Australian complicity, Loewenstein accused Canberra of lying about its involvement in arming Israel.

“The short answer is Australia sells, provides, and facilitates huge amounts of weapons parts that are sent — often through the US — to Israel, which are actively being used in Gaza since October 7,” he said.

He cited a key component of the F-35 fighter jet — the door that releases bombs — which is manufactured in Australia.

Loewenstein warned that Australian companies and politicians could one day face legal consequences: “Potentially in years to come, certain companies or ministers could be held legally culpable and responsible for facilitating genocide, as they should be.”

Censorship, surveillance, and killing journalists

Loewenstein exposed how Israel pressures social media giants to censor pro-Palestinian content, describing massive shadowbanning and content removal on platforms like Facebook and TikTok.

“It’s nothing to do with China,” he argued about US efforts to ban TikTok. “American politicians and the Israel lobby were worried that too many young Americans were supporting Palestine after seeing content online.”

Highlighting the deadly cost of censorship, Loewenstein noted more than 200 Palestinian journalists have been killed since 7 October — the highest number of journalists killed in any conflict in recorded history — while Israel and Egypt have blocked all international journalists from entering Gaza.

“Not one international journalist has been allowed in since 7 October,” he said.

He also warned of the dangers of spyware like Pegasus, which renders encrypted messaging apps useless if a phone is infected. “If your phone is infected, any app is being watched. The end.”

A superpower unlike any other

Loewenstein questioned whether Israel has surpassed even the United States in global power, given the ways it has shaped and corrupted American democracy. “Sometimes it’s interesting to ask the question: who exactly is the superpower now?” he posed.

He described Israel as America’s “landed aircraft carrier,” a so-called strategic ally that has pulled US policy into unwavering support despite immense global and domestic costs.

“There’s huge evidence of how damaging and horrific this relationship is – not just to American democracy, but to global democracy.”

A call for change

Despite the grim realities he laid out, Loewenstein ended with a note of cautious hope, observing a “growing sea change in public opinion” around the world.

Yet he warned that translating outrage into effective political action — including through boycotts and sanctions — remains the central challenge.

Echoing the final lines of his talk, he urged the audience: “If there’s no consequence for Israel’s actions, why would they change? Like apartheid South Africa, it will take outside pressure and economic cost to force real change.”

As The Palestine Laboratory continues its tour with further episodes to be screened soon, Loewenstein’s powerful indictment of Israel’s role in fuelling a global system of repression is sure to provoke fierce debate – and, he hopes, inspire action.

Republished from Australian Muslim Times, 1 July 2025

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.