In modern conflict, like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or the rivalries in the South China Sea, governments, media, and the public turn to satellite sensors to understand what’s happening. But there’s an obstacle when it comes to the fighting between Israel and Hamas: The US bans the sale of the highest-resolution imagery of the conflict produced by American companies.
Israel is the only country where American firms have standard restrictions on resolutions of 40 cm per pixel or less by US law, a spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which regulates remote-sensing satellites, confirmed to Quartz.
US space data companies produce visualizations with more detail than that—Maxar collects optical data at 30-cm resolution, Umbra collects space radar data at 25-cm resolution, and Capella collects space radar data at 30-cm resolution—but if it includes the State of Israel, they can’t sell it commercially. (The US government is a likely customer, however.)
The prohibition dates back to the 1990s, when the US feared that rivals could get a leg up by purchasing reconnaissance photos from American satellite companies. Rules were enacted that forbade US companies from selling data of a higher quality than could be obtained from foreign competitors, but industry chafed at being denied the chance to sell its data to even the most banal foreign customers.
As the space economy has taken off in the past decade, NOAA has relaxed those prohibitions. After beginning a rule-making process in 2019, the agency created a new licensing regime in 2020 that made it easier for companies with leading capabilities like high-resolution data or novel sensors to sell them overseas. This year, it lifted even more restrictions, allowing satellite firms like Maxar to sell images of spacecraft and Umbra to sell imagery at the ultra-sharp resolution of 16 cm per pixel.
Israel’s unique status in US satellite law
Except, of course, over Israel. That’s because a law passed in 1997, dubbed the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment after its two sponsors, specifically forbade US companies to sell data collected over Israel that’s of higher quality than what’s available on the foreign market.
Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona said at the time that the bill reflected the “keen understanding that images of Israel represent a unique and potentially ominous threat to its national security.”
NOAA set the standard for imagery over Israel and Palestine at 2 meters per pixel or higher. By 2012, researchers reported that non-US firms, notably Airbus, were selling satellite images of Israel at 50-cm resolution. In the 2020 overhaul, NOAA changed its interpretation, setting the current standard at 40-cm resolution.
US satellite operators like Planet Labs still collect a good deal of data that can be sold under the current rule, which has driven analyses in major newspapers. But all satellite data companies are cautious about sharing information about any war zone in too timely a fashion because of potential unintended consequences.
As well, some satellite company employees who don’t have permission to speak publicly say their firms have been less aggressive about marketing their insight into the fighting because of the fraught politics around the conflict.