Gabòr Friesen

Israel’s military called the settler attack on this Palestinian town a ‘pogrom.’ Videos show soldiers did little to stop it | CNN When hundreds of Israeli settlers rampaged through Huwara and surrounding Palestinian towns in the occupied West Bank on February 26, leaving at least one Palestinian man dead and hundreds of others i...

Past investigations show operational proximity between settlers and military forces during violence. In the 2023 Huwara attack, investigated by @gaborfriesen.bsky.social and me with CNN, IDF commander Yehuda Fuchs called it a “pogrom.”

However, accountability was close to zero.

Israeli forces standing by and doing nothing during settler violence, where did I hear that before? Oh yeah. In the investigation that I did with @gaborfriesen.bsky.social, in collaboration with CNN, on the Huwara pogrom in early 2023.

If I did, it’d have been published:) sadly people can only guess at those details.

Haven’t ventured there in a while but good to see that I didn’t mess up my first public ship location:)

What can I say, it’s a big ship:)

Haha, old habits die hard.

The Matros Koshka is currently offloading wheat in Syria. Seemingly in Latakia, around 35.5223, 35.7692.
Sentinel Imagery also indicates its presence in Latakia by showing a large vessel with a coloured (blue-ish) streak near the bridge of the ship.

How Propagandists Keep (Unknowingly) Sharing Their Location on Telegram. When you post an image, social media normally removes all of its metadata. If you post a picture of your home, this means that a stalker…

Probably worth reading for the geolocators among y'all:
medium.com/@gaborfriese...

No worries, I get the point you’re making, makes sense.

Of course, but that will be a manual task or done with very high res sat imagery. Need to know if step 1 is possible before someone can even consider step 2.

Using AI to Detect Military Trenches on Satellite Imagery This article provides a simplified and summarised view of my second undergraduate thesis. For access to the full thesis on this topic (14 pages) or underlying datasets, please reach out to me …

For my 2nd undergraduate thesis, I researched the feasibility of using Convolutional Neural Networks to automate the process of mapping military trenches. Thought this summary might interest some of you.
medium.com/@gaborfriese...

YouTube video by RAINBOLT how to find a location using only the shadow

Galen and our wider tech team have built many tools that are now regularly used by Bellingcat researchers and other newsrooms. One such tool is the Shadow Finder tool, built alongside @gaborfriesen.bsky.social , that @georainbolt.bsky.social tested out last year. www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQIj...

He’s also a GNSV member (not a super big surprise though)

Despite the fact that I haven't been making any new guides, some of which were written together with @gaborfriesen.bsky.social, in relation to applying OSINT techniques in the Middle East for a while, it always warms my heart when people from the region use these to learn these skills themselves.

It should mean unknown ground vehicle as far as i’m aware. If you have a reason to believe it’s not, it’s possible that ads-b is misclassifying it?

Veel demonstranten hebben de mogelijkheid om (zonder gewelddadig verzet) gearresteerd te worden van te voren al geaccepteerd. Dat was in Scheveningen natuurlijk anders.
Plus, deze demonstraties (zeker die van gisteren in het universiteits gebouw) zijn op plekken die makkelijker af te zetten zijn.

To a large extent it’s the same. Declaring martial law usually comes with the argument that they have some form of support (e.g. “silent majority”). But it simultaneously admits that a significant enough portion of the populace is so vehemently against you that you need martial law to stay in power.

Google Maps Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

20 meters give or take behind this dude (consider that my paint)

maps.app.goo.gl/oXUszEsTsuve...

If you want a jesting but semi-serious add on to the blog (which is how I usually see this problem):

If AI can do your OSI(NT) research for you, it’s time to spend some time learning more advanced research methods (especially for the problems where AI can’t be meaningfully applied yet).

If 1 isn’t enough or if Chris’s time gets filled up, same

Hah, fair point

Not the worst airport to get lost in as long as you make it to your flight in the end :)

(Even better if you already know how to use 3D modeling software cause then I'll always be able to help, even when I'm short on time myself that week)

Vehicle identification:
If any journalists here ever struggle to identify (military) vehicles on (relatively) low-resolution sat imagery, please let me know.

I'm testing a new identification method. Too busy to find cases right now, but if anyone already has a case, I'd love to help and see.

Just clicked a link in an NOS (dutch news) article expecting to go to X but actually ended up on Bluesky, nice surprise.

I’m considering it the ultimate online “objective reporting award” whenever one person adds me to something like “zionist allies” and someone else to “hamas supporters.”

Especially cause it could easily be combined with other media (be that text or audiovisual) for people who want an in-depth version while still providing the core information to a broader audience.

I think NOSStories has a pretty admirable format across several platforms, although you’ll want to consider the difference in stories and the fact that you have a different target audience.

Another tool idea:
OSINT Mental Health:

An extension that uses CNNs to draw bounding boxes around humans in videos (models for this already exist), before automatically blocking out the areas in those bounding boxes.

Reduces the amount of graphic content that researchers face in conflict videos.

Another one I didn’t know about, thanks!