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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?

Andrew Grimm
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Catherine Holloway
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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 '17 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 '17 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 '17 at 12:27
  • This is the camera they're talking about: https://www.jta.org/2017/07/25/news-opinion/israel-middle-east/new-security-cameras-at-temple-mount-will-respect-public-and-its-privacy-israel-police-say if that is the same as the millimeter wave cameras at airports, it would be an incredible leap in technology. – Catherine Holloway Jul 26 '17 at 12:36
  • If they are talking about body scanners then it would look like an airport, walk into a phone booth size box. If they are talking about cameras (or smart cameras) they mean face recognition software and maybe thermal imaging which just shows the outside layer. http://www.videal.ch/files/documents/thermal-imaging-cameras-with-photoelectric-sensor.pdf – daniel Jul 26 '17 at 12:42
  • @CatherineHolloway backscatter x-ray machines seem to be available in smaller sizes (although I'm not sure if they can be practically used in the described way). But either way, an official police statement seems enough as counter-evidence to a completely unsupported rumor. – tim Jul 26 '17 at 12:45
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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 '17 at 01:11
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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 '18 at 02:49
  • This terahertz camera https://www.ino.ca/en/products/terahertz-camera-microxcam-384i-thz/ has a resolution of 384x288. When looking at a whole person that is around 5 pixels per inch, which is detailed enough to be intrusive. – Paul Johnson May 07 '18 at 11:10
  • @PaulJohnson The camera you linked is for detecting weapons and such through fabric, but that doesn't mean it actually views the body.You can even see it being tested in the video, all you see is the knife and thats it. – Lyrion May 08 '18 at 14:22
  • @Lyrion The only demo with a part of a body in frame had the camera so close that the flesh was just a uniform background to the knife. With the sand in the bottle the camera could clearly see the sand. If the camera looked at a human full frame you would see the flesh underneath the clothes. – Paul Johnson May 08 '18 at 15:47

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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.

tim
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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. –  Jul 26 '17 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 '17 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. –  Jul 26 '17 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 '17 at 01:07