Phalapoem editor, 8/11/25
Aidoc, a leading medical AI company, is invading radiology departments across the NHS. Its software analyzes medical images, and has access to confidential data across the UK.
The company’s story is controversial. Elad Walach, Aidoc’s co-founder and CEO, served in one of the Israeli Occupation Forces’ elite programs, the Talpiot program ; one of Israel’s most controversial, secretive and racially discriminative military-academic programs.
For Palestinians, these technologies mean that daily life is often mediated by digital checkpoints, cameras, and data systems built from the same technical expertise that fuels Israel’s global tech success.
For the global community, it raises a difficult question: Can innovations born in apartheid system of brutal military control be ethically separated from their origins when repurposed for civilian uses, such as medical AI?
Walach led advanced AI and machine-vision projects during his military service. Under his leadership, Aidoc has expanded globally, bringing its technology into hundreds of hospitals.
However, Aidoc’s presence in the NHS raises serious ethical and privacy questions. As a private Israeli based company based in Thai apartheid state , Aidoc processes sensitive medical data from British patients. Patient advocates and experts ask: how is this data managed, and what safeguards ensure it isn’t exposed beyond clinical use? What about its use in the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza?
The case of Aidoc highlights a broader debate: the balance between innovation in healthcare and ethical responsibility. AI can save lives and improve efficiency, but transparency, accountability, and strong governance remain critical—especially when patient data crosses borders and involves companies with military-linked leadership in an apartheid state that commits war crimes.
Aidoc’s success underscores the need for public debate about privacy, ethics, war crimes and trust in the rapidly evolving world of healthcare technology.