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[00:00:00] 5 years on, an organizer seeking justice [00:00:02] for George Floyd's death are pushing [00:00:04] back against a Minneapolis city contract [00:00:06] with an Israeli tech company called Zen [00:00:09] City. [00:00:11] >> What do you want? [00:00:12] >> I can't breathe. Please, my dick. I [00:00:15] can't breathe. [ __ ] [00:00:17] >> bro. Get up. Get in the car, man. [00:00:19] >> I will. [00:00:20] >> Get up. Get in the car. [00:00:21] >> I can't move. [00:00:21] >> I've been waiting the whole time, man. [00:00:24] >> Get up. Get in the car. [00:00:26] >> Get up and get in the car tonight. I [00:00:28] can't. [00:00:36] [Music] [00:00:44] I'm here with Mit Press News in the [00:00:46] heart of the anti- police brutality [00:00:48] movement here in Minneapolis to expose [00:00:51] Zen City. Zen City was founded by Eel [00:00:53] Levy, a former member of Israel's elite [00:00:56] cyber security unit 8200. After serving [00:00:59] in the IDF, Unit 8200 graduates go on to [00:01:03] build spyware companies that are used as [00:01:05] militarygrade cyber weapons for the [00:01:07] state of Israel. Most wellknown is NSO [00:01:10] group which is behind the Pegasus [00:01:12] software. This was installed on Jamal [00:01:14] Kosigible's phone before he was [00:01:15] murdered. These illegal mass [00:01:17] surveillance tools are used to blackmail [00:01:19] Palestinians so divisions and distrust [00:01:22] and then sold on the international [00:01:23] market as field tested to maintain [00:01:26] Israeli apartheid to the worst violators [00:01:29] of human rights. The same technologies [00:01:31] that are being deployed to spy on [00:01:33] Palestinians are now being used right [00:01:35] here in the city of Minneapolis. And [00:01:37] it's not just here in Minneapolis. [00:01:38] Israel's notorious Unit8200 surveillance [00:01:41] tech is being exported in cities across [00:01:44] the country. So the city of Minneapolis [00:01:46] has a $500,000 [00:01:48] contract with Zen City to survey people [00:01:51] in Minneapolis. They target survey [00:01:53] participants through existing algorithms [00:01:57] on our phones. But there's two smaller [00:01:59] surveys that they did not need city [00:02:01] council approval for. And one is to [00:02:03] survey residents about what we want the [00:02:06] future of George Floyd Square to be. And [00:02:07] the other is the future of the third [00:02:09] precinct that was burned down during the [00:02:11] uprising. [00:02:12] [Music] [00:02:26] I think since October 7th, a lot of [00:02:28] people have opened their eyes to the [00:02:30] atrocities and and what's happening in [00:02:33] the aparttheid state with this very [00:02:35] sustained, very blatant genocide that's [00:02:38] happening right now against Gaza. I see [00:02:41] people maintaining their outrage and [00:02:44] demanding justice. We're willing to keep [00:02:47] trying anything. Something has to work [00:02:50] here. We have to keep raising our [00:02:51] voices. [00:02:53] While Israel's committing a genocide in [00:02:55] Gaza, residents here in Minneapolis are [00:02:57] questioning why Mayor Jacob Fry is [00:03:00] funding an Israeli tech company to spy [00:03:02] on its citizens instead of seeking [00:03:04] justice for George Floyd. I was actually [00:03:06] in the city of Minneapolis after George [00:03:08] Floyd was killed. And I was covering the [00:03:10] protest and then I ended up joining the [00:03:12] protests because we were so outraged by [00:03:14] the way the police were responding to [00:03:16] the residents of Minneapolis. They were [00:03:17] teargassed, shot at with rubber bullets [00:03:20] and it almost reminded me of living [00:03:23] under Israeli occupation. It really felt [00:03:25] like I was reliving, you know, going [00:03:27] through checkpoints in Alutz. I think [00:03:30] there's a a lot of shared passion [00:03:32] against the regimes that are have taken [00:03:34] hold here and in in the Israeli [00:03:37] apartheid state. I see a lot of people [00:03:40] waking up to and learning about these [00:03:42] shared practices, the shared techniques [00:03:44] between the Israeli armed forces and the [00:03:46] forces here. Our sheriff's department [00:03:48] and our police department both have a [00:03:51] history of training with the Israeli [00:03:53] forces and Palestinians [00:03:56] in Palestine have used social media to [00:03:59] share practices of defense against [00:04:02] violent policing. And so the solidarity [00:04:06] between people has only gotten stronger. [00:04:11] >> Israel uses the West Bank and Gaza as a [00:04:13] laboratory to test its surveillance [00:04:15] tech. And then it exports it on the [00:04:17] international market to sell to Western [00:04:19] governments who use this technology to [00:04:21] monitor, surveil, and crack down on [00:04:23] disscent. And so these three surveys [00:04:26] together, the $500,000 contract to [00:04:29] survey our general opinion on the MPD [00:04:32] and these other two smaller ones are [00:04:34] being used to by Mayor Fry's office to [00:04:39] really paint a picture of policing in [00:04:42] Minneapolis that benefits the city and [00:04:45] takes away the agency of the residents [00:04:48] here. These are targeted surveys that [00:04:50] don't gather a large perspective from [00:04:53] community members. We've been working [00:04:55] really hard to have our voices heard in [00:04:57] the city about what we want the future [00:04:59] of George Floyd Square to be and what we [00:05:00] want the future of the third precinct to [00:05:02] be. And also about our opinions of MPD [00:05:05] and they're going about it wrong. And [00:05:07] not only are they going about the [00:05:09] process wrong, they're doing it in a way [00:05:11] that benefits an Israeli tech company [00:05:14] through these contracts. Uh in February [00:05:16] 2024, Minneapolis City Council passed [00:05:18] one of the strongest ceasefire [00:05:20] resolutions in the country. And we see [00:05:22] this as an opportunity for city council [00:05:24] to step up in this obligation and its [00:05:26] stated commitment for Palestine against [00:05:29] the genocide in Gaza to act on that [00:05:31] commitment and cut the contract. We know [00:05:34] that city council has the power to push [00:05:36] the mayor on this. We have a petition [00:05:39] circulating. We're we're meeting with [00:05:41] our council members. We're swaying them [00:05:42] towards doing the right thing. We don't [00:05:45] have faith in this mayor. We believe [00:05:47] that Mayor Jacob Fry is going to [00:05:49] maintain this contract. Well, they [00:05:51] hijacked these causes by silencing [00:05:53] Palestinians for one, making it sure [00:05:55] that Palestinian voices aren't heard, [00:05:58] neutralizing, taking the bite out of [00:06:01] these um these movements that have a lot [00:06:04] of teeth in them. And Democrats are [00:06:05] scared and they they want to maintain [00:06:07] the status quo and we're not going to [00:06:10] let them. [00:06:11] >> Yeah. [00:06:13] Heat. [00:06:18] [Music] [00:06:35] Hey, heat. Hey, heat. [00:06:38] [Music] [00:06:45] You won't love me. [00:06:49] [Music] [00:07:00] [Music]