Calls for Glasgow City Council to ditch Israeli CCTV firm

The company was founded by seven former members of Unit 8200, which the Financial Times described in 2015 as "the equivalent of America's National Security Agency". NICE said it has no direct connection to the IDF.

In 2014, the same year NICE was awarded its contract with Glasgow City Council, 43 veterans of Unit 8200 signed a public letter alleging that civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories were being subjected to "espionage and surveillance by Israeli intelligence", including the retention of details around sexual preferences, infidelities, financial problems or family illnesses which could be used to "extort/blackmail the person and turn them into a collaborator".

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The following year NICE was acquired by Elbit Systems, a defence contractor for the Israel Defence Forces, while its 'physical security business unit' was sold to a private equity firm and rebranded as Qognify.

In March 2024, Glasgow City Council backed a Green motion which committed it to "assure itself of supply chains that do not conflict with international humanitarian law" and to prepare a report on all goods and services bought by the council “wholly or partially manufactured, assembled, or operated by companies operating in the occupied territories as per the updated UN database of business enterprises in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”

That report found that the council did not have any "currently procured contracts" with any organisations on the database, though this would not include outsourced contracts in which the company operating the tender had its own relationship with such a company.

Under the Road to Multi-Source Strategy (R2MS) plan, the council plans to re-procure ICT services over time and bring them back in-house, raising concerns any continued relationship with Qognify and NICE technology could be in breach of its commitments under the motion.

Concerns have been raised not only about Glasgow City Council having ties to a company which, in itself, has links to the IDF but also civil liberties closer to home.

Glasgow City Chambers (Image: Newsquest) NICE operates a patented technology called Suspect Search which can "quickly locate and retrace the movements of a suspect, lost child, or other person of interest within a video surveillance network" by using video analytics to recognise facial features and other signifiers.

An Amnesty International report last year found that Israeli security forces use a number of technologies to extensively gather biometric data from Palestinians in the occupied territories without their consent, using that information to create a database which is used to restrict freedom of movement and carry out mass surveillance.

Glasgow City Council has stated its intention to use the Suspect Search technology as part of what it calls Person Search, though said it would not use facial recognition technology or gather biometric data.

The technology is not currently operational, as a Data Protection Impact Assessment is yet to be completed, but as of 2019 had been installed on around 70 CCTV cameras in Glasgow.

The Scottish Police Authority said: "The Suspect Search Facility is still undergoing development by Glasgow City Council and is not available to Police Scotland.

"Our understanding is that the technology does not use facial recognition; rather it scans existing CCTV images to track potential persons of interest on the basis of height, colour of clothing etc. It is a standalone system which does not communicate with any Police Scotland or other external databases."

Glasgow City Council told The Ferret in the same year: "Once approved, the system will only be operated by vetted staff and will aid operators in speeding up the process in looking for a missing child, for example, in the city."

Since April 2018, IT services for Glasgow City Council have been outsourced to a Canadian company called CGI, with the contract coming to an end on March 31 of this year.

CGI maintains a contract with Qognify, and campaigners are calling for the council to ensure it divests from the Israeli company and NICE technology going forward.

It's understood a report was approved by the City Adminstration Committee last year which details the steps Glasgow City Council can legally take, and will form the basis of how the council responds.

The Gaza Genocide Emergency Committee said: "Glasgow Council’s continued relations with Israeli company Qognify and use of its NICE technology runs contrary to the council’s affirmed motion of Solidarity with Palestine (28 March 2024), which, in endorsing the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that Israel is conducting a 'plausible' genocide, pledges that it will do nothing to enable it.

"As the contract expiry date approaches, Glasgow Council has the opportunity to honour its laudable motion, uphold the ICJ rulings and terminate these unethical services."

Leodhas Massie of the Scottish Greens said: "It's vitally important to the Green councillors that we do everything we possibly can to end the council's financial involvement with organisations that may be involved in or facilitating human rights abuses, such as the ongoing genocide in Palestine.

"GGEC have uncovered legitimate concerns regarding our city centre surveillance contract with NICE, a company founded by elements of the Israeli military. We believe that this warrants further investigation into the company and its compliance with new ethical certification that Green councillors introduced as part of a motion in March 2024.

"This position has been strengthened further by the ICJ ruling last summer that asks authorities to do everything in their power to end any facilitation of the genocide in Palestine, including through financially lucrative contracts. With a review of Glasgow City Council IT services coming up this spring there is an opportunity for elected members to scrutinise various parts of the systems contracts as they are broken down and looked at, such as with NICE.

"Although councils are constrained by UK legislation to only make procurement decisions based on value for money we can make some exceptions through the ethical certification process, to end contracts with companies we do not believe comply with this policy.

"Our concerns with NICE and their possible continued involvement in 'domestic security' in Israel have not been satisfied.

"Green councillors believe the in-house provision of services is better for both ethical compliance and more generally for the transparency of the service delivery in Glasgow and we will be working to make sure that is the outcome of the review in spring."

A Glasgow City Council spokesperson said: “The Council will be asking all current contractors to complete a Professional Integrity Certificate.  This includes a requirement to confirm that they do not exploit assets in illegal settlements; that they comply with international humanitarian obligations, and have used all reasonable endeavours to ensure that supply chains also comply.

“Once an assessment has been made of the completed response from each contractor, the Council will decide any follow-up action on a case by case basis.”