Tel Aviv/Jerusalem, November 27, 2025 – In a significant escalation of digital surveillance within its ranks, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has unveiled an advanced artificial intelligence system named Morpheus, designed to monitor the social media activity of its personnel and prevent the inadvertent disclosure of sensitive military information. The initiative comes at a time of intense global scrutiny over Israeli soldiers’ online posts, which have increasingly been used as evidence in international war crimes investigations related to the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Morpheus, developed by the IDF’s Information Security Directorate, uses machine learning to scan public social media accounts for texts, photos, videos, and other content that could compromise operational security. The system automatically flags material containing geolocation data that reveals base locations, images of classified weaponry, or descriptions of troop movements. When a potential violation is detected, soldiers receive immediate notifications to delete the content, with repeated offenses escalated for disciplinary review.
The program began as a pilot several months ago involving approximately 45,000 active-duty personnel, mostly conscripts who maintain public profiles on Instagram, TikTok, and X. During the trial phase, thousands of posts were identified and removed. Full deployment is scheduled for December 2025 and will initially cover around 170,000 regular soldiers, though reservists will remain exempt due to legal limitations on monitoring civilians.
The IDF has described Morpheus as a necessary evolution in information security, particularly after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks exposed how openly shared soldier content can be exploited by adversaries. Military sources acknowledge the intrusive nature of the surveillance but insist it is essential for protecting both lives and operational secrecy.
Critics, however, see a secondary motive: shielding potential evidence of misconduct from international courts. Human rights organizations have long collected videos and images posted by Israeli troops showing home demolitions, looting, and celebrations amid Gaza’s destruction. These same materials now form the backbone of legal actions against individual soldiers in multiple countries.
One prominent example emerged in mid-November 2025 when the Brussels-based Hind Rajab Foundation filed a criminal complaint in the Czech Republic against Noam Tsuriely, a 28-year-old reservist, paratrooper, and rapper who performed in Prague. The 50-page dossier accuses him of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and incitement to hatred. It cites geolocated social media posts placing him inside Gaza during multiple combat tours, including a controlled demolition in Beit Hanoun in November 2023 that destroyed civilian buildings near a UN school. The complaint also highlights his musical performances, where lyrics and visuals openly glorify the devastation of Palestinian communities.
The Hind Rajab Foundation, established in memory of six-year-old Hind Rajab killed by Israeli fire in January 2024, specializes in archiving and analyzing content posted by Israeli soldiers themselves. In October 2024, the same organization submitted the largest complaint ever filed at the International Criminal Court, naming 1,000 Israeli troops and supported by more than 8,000 pieces of evidence, including social media videos, forensic reports, and eyewitness statements.
These legal efforts coincide with a sharp increase in Palestinian detentions over online activity. Advocacy groups report that Israeli forces have intensified arrests of Palestinian women and girls in recent weeks, often on charges of “incitement” related to social media posts mourning victims or criticizing the occupation. Since October 2023, more than 600 Palestinian women and girls have been detained, many held without trial under administrative detention orders.
The broader human toll remains staggering. Gaza’s Health Ministry, figures widely cited by UN agencies, reports approximately 70,000 Palestinians killed and over 171,000 wounded since October 7, 2023. Independent studies, including a June 2024 analysis published in The Lancet, suggest the true death toll, when including indirect causes such as starvation and disease, may approach or exceed 100,000.
Against this backdrop, the launch of Morpheus reflects a broader Israeli effort to regain control over the narrative and limit legal exposure. While the system is officially framed as a counter-intelligence tool, its timing and capabilities have fueled accusations that it is also designed to erase digital traces that could be used to prosecute soldiers abroad.
As accountability campaigns expand from Europe to Latin America and Asia, the Israeli military finds itself navigating a new battlefield, one fought not with drones or artillery, but with algorithms racing to scrub the very evidence that activists and prosecutors are determined to preserve. In an era where smartphones document everything, the struggle over what soldiers are allowed to post has become a critical front in the larger conflict over truth, justice, and impunity.
