Microsoft equipped Israel’s indiscriminate Palestinian surveillance operation with Azure cloud tech, claims report
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Summary
Reporting from the Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call has alleged that Microsoft collaborated with the Israeli government to provide storage for “indiscriminate” telephone recordings of Palestinian civilans made by the Israeli military.
Leaked documents and interviews with Microsoft employees and members of the Israeli military formed the basis of the report, which also accused Microsoft of being aware that the material would be used to identify bombing targets.
The material, founded on Microsoft’s Azure cloud storage system, amounts to 11,500 terabytes of data, and is held in Azure servers in the Netherlands and Ireland.
The development of the programme was overseen by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Israeli Army Commander Yossi Sariel.
Sariel resigned his position in September 2024, following backlash for failing to predict Hamas-led attacks on Israeli civilians in October 2023.
This latest news has sparked renewed interest in the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which calls for a boycott of Microsoft and Xbox products and services.
