Microsoft halts services to Israeli defence unit over Gaza mass surveillance

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Microsoft has partially cut off services to a unit within the Israeli Ministry of Defence (IMOD) after its technology was used for mass surveillance on Gaza civilians.

Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, stated that using the company’s technology for mass civilian surveillance violates its standard terms of service.

The decision was prompted by a recent investigative report from The Guardian that detailed the unit’s surveillance activities.

The investigation, which collaborated with Israeli-Palestinian and Hebrew-language media, found that a specific IMOD unit used the vast storage capacity of Microsoft’s cloud service, Azure, to amass a massive trove of intercepted calls made by ordinary Palestinians.

This capability to collect, play back, and analyse communications was reportedly used to shape military operations in both Gaza and the West Bank.

Microsoft launched its own review following the publication and subsequently informed the IMOD that it would “cease and disable” certain subscriptions and services. Specifically, the IMOD’s use of particular cloud storage and AI services and technologies has been terminated.

Smith confirmed that the action was focused on ensuring Microsoft’s services are not used for the mass surveillance of civilians, guided by the company’s commitment to privacy.

The move comes amid ongoing controversy over Microsoft’s work with the Israeli government, which has led to internal protests and the dismissal of some dissenting employees. The IMOD unit in question is reportedly planning to transfer its data to a cloud platform sold by Amazon.

Mr. Smith emphasized that the decision would not affect Microsoft’s broader work with Israel, but an ongoing review would share more information in the coming weeks.

Earlier this year, a UN expert named Microsoft and other multinational firms, including Amazon and Alphabet, as companies risking complicity in potential war crimes in the region by doing business with Israel.

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