The San Francisco Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SFBA), today condemned the Oakland City Council’s approval of a contract authorizing the Oakland Police Department (OPD) to deploy technology from Cellebrite, an Israeli digital intelligence company whose tools have been used to harvest data from Palestinian detainees in Gaza and track immigrants across the United States.
The council voted 6-2 to approve a $140,000 contract for OPD to deploy Cellebrite’s phone extraction technology, which unlocks devices and retrieves deleted messages, calls, and location data. Councilmembers Carrol Fife and Janani Ramachandran voted against the contract, while Councilmembers Rowena Brown, Noel Gallo, Ken Houston, Kevin Jenkins, Zac Unger, and Charlene Wang voted in favor. All 23 public comments submitted opposed it.
Based in Israel, Cellebrite provides services to the Israeli police and intelligence agencies. During the ongoing genocide in Gaza, Israel used Cellebrite to harvest data from the phones of thousands of Palestinian detainees, most of them civilians. Civil liberties advocates have also raised concerns about governments worldwide using the company’s tools to surveil activists, journalists, immigrants, and marginalized communities. In the U.S., ICE contracts with Cellebrite to support immigration enforcement operations tied to detention and deportation.
The company itself has acknowledged the risk, openly stating its products “may be used by customers in a way that is, or that is perceived to be, incompatible with human rights.”
In a statement, CAIR-SFBA Executive Director Zahra Billoo said:
“By approving this contract, Oakland has chosen to bring in technology tied directly to Israeli occupation forces, the surveillance of Palestinians, and immigration enforcement here in the U.S. That decision should never have been made without meaningful engagement with the communities most likely to be impacted by expanded surveillance and discriminatory policing, including Muslim, Palestinian, Middle Eastern, immigrant, and activist communities. International affairs and policing are not separate issues.”
CAIR-SFBA also raised concerns about Cellebrite’s use of generative artificial intelligence in criminal investigations, citing growing evidence that AI-driven systems can reinforce racial and gender bias and produce discriminatory outcomes in Oakland communities.
The organization also expressed concern about the city’s procurement process, noting that OPD waived competitive bidding requirements and advanced Cellebrite as the sole vendor without publicly demonstrating it was the most effective or least harmful option.
“When you combine powerful surveillance tools with limited oversight and documented risks of bias, the potential for harm increases—especially for communities already subject to disproportionate policing,” said Musa Tariq, CAIR-SFBA policy coordinator. “That makes this the wrong choice for Oakland. The city can invest in public safety without adopting technology that undermines civil liberties.”
CAIR-SFBA urged the city council to rescind the Cellebrite contract and direct OPD to conduct a transparent, competitive bidding process that centers community trust, accountability, and human rights.
CAIR-SFBA is an office of CAIR, America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
END
CONTACT: CAIR-SFBA Communications Manager Lorrie Adam, (408) 498-5779, [email protected]