BRATTLEBORO-Denise Gebroe is correct that the issues motivating the No Surveillance in Health Care campaign "go far beyond patient privacy concerns."
It's true: The campaign is also concerned with the way that the state of Israel has oriented its entire society and economy - especially its startup tech industry - around its prosecution of a war of extermination against the Palestinian people.
Contrary to the oft-repeated claim that Israel is "the Middle East's only democracy," it far more closely resembles Sparta than Athens.
Eleos Health is a case in point. Every single member of its senior executive team has deep ties to the Israeli military. Its CEO serves as a commanding officer in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
Its second in command is a former IDF drone pilot, who cites his experience as a drone pilot as an inspiration for co-founding Eleos, and the management of his drone unit as a model for the provision of mental health care.
Eleos's chief technology officer comes from the Matzov Unit, an information security unit of the IDF.
Its chief information security officer is more demure about his ties to the Israeli military, but in addition to his role at Eleos, he also sits on the board of Glilot Capital Partners, an Israeli cybersecurity venture capital firm. "Glilot" is the name of the Israeli military base that hosts Mossad and the infamous cyberwarfare Unit 8200.
Even Eleos's chief clinical officer, the one person in leadership whose experience is directly relevant to mental health care, got IDF funding for her clinical research. (I'll leave it to the reader's imagination why the Israeli military might want to fund research on eating disorders.)
And all of this is not limited to Eleos leadership; fully 35% of Eleos staff served in the Israeli military post-Oct. 7 (as compared to 4% of the general population and 10–15% of Israel's tech workforce overall).
So, yes, even if you are not concerned with the risks of a device that listens in on your therapy sessions - one designed by alumni of a military, intelligence, and surveillance force that has demonstrated both an ability and willingness to indiscriminately blow up thousands of personal electronic devices - we hope that you might at least be concerned about the transfer of public health care funds to an economy that is oriented toward the annihilation of Palestinian lives, culture, and political aspirations.
If you are, please join us in Southern Vermont for Palestine in calling on HCRS to cancel this contract, along with the campaign's co-sponsoring organizations: BDS Boston, Boston Liberation Health, Cooperation Vermont, Everyone's Books, Intentional Peer Support, Jewish Voice for Peace - VT & NH, Lost River Racial Justice, Upper Valley Affinity Group, Vermont Coalition for Palestinian Liberation, and Wildflower Alliance.
Southern Vermont for Palestine
Brattleboro
Fhar Miess
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