Microsoft is blocking the Israeli military’s access to cloud and AI services that have been used in the mass surveillance of Palestinian civilians. Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith announced the decision in an internal memo to employees on Thursday, after The Guardian and others reported last month that the Israeli government stored recordings and data on Azure of up to “a million calls an hour” made by Palestinians.
“While our review is ongoing, we have found evidence that supports elements of The Guardian’s reporting,” says Smith. “We therefore have informed Israel Ministry of Defense (IMOD) of Microsoft’s decision to cease and disable specified IMOD subscriptions and their services, including their use of specific cloud storage and AI services and technologies. We have reviewed this decision with IMOD and the steps we are taking to ensure compliance with our terms of service, focused on ensuring our services are not used for mass surveillance of civilians.”
The block applies to “a set of services” used by a unit within the IMOD, and Smith makes it clear that Microsoft “do not provide technology to facilitate mass surveillance of civilians.” This move doesn’t affect other contracts that Microsoft holds with the Israeli government, and Smith notes it “does not impact the important work that Microsoft continues to do to protect the cybersecurity of Israel and other countries in the Middle East, including under the Abraham Accords.”
The Guardian reports that the Israeli military has already moved as much as 8TB data off of Azure, just days after the original reports surfaced last month. The Israeli military is reportedly planning to transfer the data to Amazon Web Services. We’ve reached out to Amazon to comment on this report.
Microsoft’s review of the use of its Azure cloud and AI technologies by the Israeli military follows reporting by The Guardian and pressure from current and former Microsoft employees. Microsoft has fired five employees in connection with protests over its Israeli government contracts at its headquarters recently. Protests last month included encampments and a group that managed to gain access to a company building and livestream themselves inside the office of Microsoft president Brad Smith.
“Today’s news is a significant and unprecedented win for the campaign and our organizing,” says Hossam Nasr, an organizer with the No Azure for Apartheid group, in a statement to The Verge. “Within less than a month of our sit-in in Brad Smith’s office, Microsoft has taken the significant decision to become the first US tech company to stop the sale of some technologies to the Israeli military since the start of the genocide in Gaza.”
Despite the win for protesters, the group says it’s not enough because Microsoft has only disabled a small subset of services to a single unit in the Israeli military. “The vast majority of Microsoft’s contract with the Israeli military remains intact,” says Nasr. “The decision today only motivates us more to continue our organizing until all of our demands are met, and until Palestine is free.”
Update, September 25th: Article updated with a statement from the No Azure for Apartheid group.
