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In this article Salah Abu Agrafa, a worshipper at the Temple Mount claims:

“They took away the metal detectors, but they replaced them with X-ray cameras that can look at our women naked.”

Similarly, on the PBS News Hour for July 25, 2017 it was reported that:

"Palestinians warn that the new cameras could see through clothing and embarrass female worshippers"

Are the cameras installed by Israel known to be able to see through clothing?

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  • Can you narrow it down to if they are talking about full body scanners or superman x-ray vision cameras?
    – daniel
    Jul 26, 2017 at 12:11
  • I'm pretty sure that X-ray cameras don't work like that. Otherwise, something like that would already be blasting all around the world news.
    – T. Sar
    Jul 26, 2017 at 12:27
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    I don't think it's appropriate to narrow down the question. The claim is that the newly installed cameras can see through clothing; the claimers don't clarify which type of cameras they are.
    – Catherine Holloway
    Jul 26, 2017 at 12:27
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    What cameras can see through clothing anyway? There are a few edge cases (using near infrared to spy on women in swimsuits sometimes works) but AFIAK there's nothing that can be used like an ordinary camera that sees through clothing. This is just the usual criticism of any security measure that Israel does.
    – Loren Pechtel
    Jul 28, 2017 at 1:11
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    It is often claimed that infrared cameras can "see through" clothing. What this really means is that they can detect the body under moderately thin clothing due to it's elevated temperature. This doesn't provide anything resembling Superman X-ray vision, however -- it just detects an outline.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Apr 29, 2018 at 2:49

1 Answer 1

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Reacting to the rumor, Israeli Police released a statement denying it:

“The Israel Police does not use any type of camera that harms privacy in any way and has no intention of using such cameras in the future,” the statement said. “The purpose of the cameras is to protect and guard public safety.”

In the meantime, the cameras and metal detectors have been taken down, but will be replaced by other security measures in the future.

Haaretz has a description of how cameras that will be installed in the future may work; it will be a face-recognition system, not any sort of x-ray system:

The system requires a database of photos [...]. Every photo in the database would receive a classification as to the degree of risk that the person poses. The system is capable of scanning millions of faces in a matter of seconds.

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    That is a really weak denial. Cameras of some kind exist, they are advertised to work despite covered faces, possibly detect hidden objects, and they will be connected to large databases. The pilot program it is supposed to be based on did not appear to store pictures of everyone, only compared current images to a security database though.
    – user36688
    Jul 26, 2017 at 14:54
  • @notstoreboughtdirt Unfortunately I doubt you'll be able to find an authoritative source other than the Israeli police regarding the specific cameras installed.
    – JAB
    Jul 26, 2017 at 18:32
  • @JAB My list is the claims I take away from reading the three sources provided. I don't suggest any of it is a poor source, only that it doesn't suggest to me that privacy is protected.
    – user36688
    Jul 26, 2017 at 18:52
  • @JAB And I doubt that they'll give you all the details anyway--that would help defeat it.
    – Loren Pechtel
    Jul 28, 2017 at 1:07

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