A packed crowd filled Dendy Cinemas Newtown on Saturday 26 July 2025 for the screening of The Palestine Laboratory: Episode 2, followed by an unflinching Q&A with award-winning journalist and filmmaker Antony Loewenstein.
Hosted by the Jewish Council of Australia and the Palestine Justice Movement Sydney, and facilitated by Palestinian activist Ahmed Alabadla, the event laid bare the machinery of Israel’s booming arms industry, an industry built on decades of occupation, surveillance, and bloodshed in Palestine and now on genocide in Gaza.
The documentary, based on Loewenstein’s internationally acclaimed book, presents a searing indictment of Israel’s role in global repression.
Through investigative footage, interviews, and field reporting, The Palestine Laboratory unveils how Israel has tested weapons and surveillance technologies on Palestinians and then exported them to regimes across the world.
This second episode, screened publicly in Sydney for the first time, follows Loewenstein’s travels through the United States, Mexico, Europe, India, and South Africa – tracing the spread of Israel’s so-called “battle-tested” systems of control.
Testing on Palestinians, selling to the world
“Plenty of countries sell weapons,” Loewenstein said during his introduction at start of the screening session, “But what makes Israel’s industry unique is the mix of weapons, surveillance technology and architectural techniques that combine to create a comprehensive system for controlling ‘difficult’ populations and it’s all based on years of experience in Palestine.”
Israel is currently the eighth-largest arms exporter in the world, despite ranking 97th in population size. According to Loewenstein, this is not just an economic phenomenon, it’s ideological.
“What I’m investigating,” he explained, “is not just the Israeli arms industry… it’s also an idea. Israel is selling a model of repression.”
In the documentary, Loewenstein explores how the US-Mexico border has become a laboratory for Israeli-designed surveillance towers and biometric systems.
In Mexico, Pegasus spyware developed by Israeli company NSO Group was used to target journalists, lawyers, and even grieving families searching for disappeared children.
In Greece, Syrian refugees describe EU-funded “closed control access centres” filled with Israeli cameras, drones, and AI tracking.
India, Israel’s largest arms customer, has deployed drones to suppress farmer protests, mirroring tactics used against demonstrators in Gaza.
Perhaps most disturbingly, the documentary uncovers the extent of Israeli arms and intelligence cooperation with the former apartheid regime in South Africa.
Israel supplied ammunition, crowd control devices, and white phosphorus shells to apartheid regime in South Africa during its years of international isolation, building a bond based on mutual ethno-nationalist ideologies.
The politics of silence
During the Q&A, Loewenstein challenged not only foreign governments, but Australia’s own complicity in the ongoing siege of Gaza.
“We’ve been sending parts for the F-35 fighter jet that Israel is using to bomb Gaza,” he said. “You’ll hear Penny Wong or Anthony Albanese say, ‘Australia hasn’t sent any weapons to Israel.’ What they’re not saying is we’ve sent parts. That’s a lie of omission.”
Referencing leaked documents reported by Declassified Australia, Loewenstein confirmed that Australian-manufactured weapons components were exported as recently as June.
“Australian officials, from the Prime Minister down, could one day face legal consequences for supporting genocide,” he added.
Host Ahmed Alabadla, co-founder of Palestine Justice Movement Sydney, reflected on the role of public discourse:
“Events like this help shift public opinion and public opinion is how apartheid fell in South Africa, how the Vietnam War stopped. We can’t wait for change from within Israel. It has to come from pressure exerted from outside.”
Surveillance diplomacy and the cost of occupation
Loewenstein also discussed the recent report by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, which cites his book and introduces the term “surveillance diplomacy”, a practice where Israel uses its spyware and weapons deals to buy silence or political support at the UN.
“Israel provides spyware to countries like Mexico and India, and in return, those states abstain on votes to condemn the occupation or the genocide in Gaza,” he explained. “It’s not just about making money, it’s about maintaining impunity.”
The discussion also covered Australia’s reliance on Israeli surveillance tools such as Cellebrite, used by numerous federal and state agencies.
“Cellebrite’s phone-hacking tech is used everywhere, from the tax office to border control,” Loewenstein noted. “It’s impossible to track all the ways this industry touches our daily lives.”
From awareness to action
While the content of the film was harrowing, Loewenstein urged attendees not to retreat into despair.
“The most basic thing Australians can do is demand that our government stop exporting weapons parts to a genocidal army,” he said. “Name the companies. Pressure the politicians. Share the information.”
He also highlighted the power of public opinion: “Polls show support for Israel in Australia is collapsing, only 5% strongly support them now. This is not a fringe position anymore.”
Ahmed Alabadla echoed the sentiment. “This isn’t just a film, it’s a resource. Screen it in your community, share it, discuss it. Justice for Palestine depends on what we do here in the West. Silence is no longer an option.”
As the event closed, the atmosphere in the room was charged not just with information, but with intent. A genocide is unfolding in Gaza. But as The Palestine Laboratory shows, so too is a global resistance to it.
The Palestine Laboratory: Episode 1 and 2 are available to stream for free on YouTube. Antony Loewenstein’s book is available in bookstores and online.
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