United States tech giant Microsoft has disabled some of its services for the Israeli military after reports revealed its technology was being used for mass surveillance of Palestinians. Company president and vice chair Brad Smith confirmed the move in a blog post on Thursday, saying that Israel’s use of its cloud platform violated Microsoft’s terms of service.
The decision follows an August 6 joint investigation by The Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call, which alleged that Israel’s Unit 8200, an elite cyber warfare unit, had used Microsoft’s Azure cloud to store and analyse phone call data from millions of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
The report claimed that after a 2021 meeting between Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Unit 8200’s commander Yossi Sariel, a collaboration was struck to migrate large amounts of sensitive intelligence material to Azure. Since 2022, the system reportedly enabled the unit to replay and analyse intercepted calls and even support air strike targeting operations.
Smith noted that Microsoft’s internal and external reviews found evidence that the military’s use of Azure breached its principles. “We do not provide technology to facilitate mass surveillance of civilians,” he said, adding that Microsoft is committed to protecting user privacy worldwide.
While Smith did not name the specific unit, he confirmed that some Israeli Defence Ministry subscriptions, including cloud storage and AI tools, were cancelled.
The Associated Press earlier reported that Israel’s reliance on Microsoft services surged after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack, with the military heavily using AI-powered language translation and cloud storage. Microsoft admitted in May it had sold advanced services during the war but claimed no evidence then linked its products to civilian harm.
Activist and former Microsoft employee Hossam Nasr described the move as a “win,” but cautioned that “the vast majority of Microsoft’s contract with the Israeli military remains intact.”
