Microsoft Disables Cloud Used by Israel's Defense Ministry

Microsoft on Thursday said it disabled a set of cloud and AI services used by a unit within the Israel Ministry of Defense after an internal review found preliminary evidence supporting media reports of a surveillance system in Gaza and the West Bank.

Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, said the company opened the review after an article by the Guardian alleged activity by a unit of the Israel Defense Forces.

A joint investigation published in early August by the Guardian, Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and Hebrew-language outlet Local Call reported that an Israeli military surveillance agency used Microsoft’s Azure to store large volumes of mobile phone call recordings from Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza.

The Guardian investigation said Israel relied on Microsoft cloud for expansive surveillance of Palestinians.

While the review is ongoing, Microsoft said it found evidence supporting elements of the Guardian’s reporting, including details on IMOD’s consumption of Azure storage capacity in the Netherlands and the use of AI services.

“We do not provide technology to facilitate mass surveillance of civilians,” Smith said in a Microsoft blog.

Microsoft has informed the Israeli defense ministry of its “decision to cease and disable specified IMOD subscriptions and their services, including their use of specific cloud storage and AI services and technologies.”

The action does not impact Microsoft’s cybersecurity services to Israel and other countries in the Middle East, Smith said.

In late August, Microsoft fired four employees who took part in protests on company premises over its ties to Israel as the war in Gaza continues, including two who joined a sit-in at the office of the company’s president.

Microsoft said the terminations followed serious breaches of company policies and the on-site demonstrations had “created significant safety concerns.”