Microsoft cuts off Israeli military from cloud services after mass surveillance of Palestinian calls revealed: 5 key details
Microsoft has suspended Israel’s Unit 8200 from using Azure and AI services after reports revealed mass surveillance of Palestinian phone calls. Here are 5 key things to know.
Microsoft cuts off Israeli military from its tech Microsoft has stopped Israel’s Unit 8200, a top-secret military intelligence unit, from using some of its cloud and AI services. This decision comes after revelations that Unit 8200 was storing and analyzing millions of Palestinian phone calls every day in Gaza and the West Bank using Microsoft’s Azure cloud. Microsoft said this violated its rules, which forbid using its technology for mass surveillance of civilians.
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How the surveillance worked Unit 8200 had set up a huge surveillance system using Microsoft’s Azure cloud, which has nearly limitless storage and computing power. This allowed them to collect, store, and analyze calls from the Palestinian population. At one point, they reportedly processed “a million calls an hour”, storing data that amounted to about 8,000 terabytes (an enormous amount of information). AI tools were used to process this data, and the system helped identify targets during military operations in Gaza.
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Investigation and Microsoft’s response The Guardian, along with other media partners, revealed this surveillance system in investigative reports. After the first report in January, Microsoft reviewed its relationship with the Israeli military but initially found no violations. However, the August investigation showed that the cloud-based system had been used to support airstrikes in Gaza, prompting Microsoft to reassess. Following employee protests and pressure from activist groups like No Azure for Apartheid, Microsoft ordered an external review and then terminated Unit 8200’s access to certain services.
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What Microsoft did and why Microsoft disabled cloud storage and AI services used by Unit 8200 but continues other commercial services for the Israeli military. Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, emphasized that the company does not support technology for mass civilian surveillance anywhere in the world. The termination marks the first known case of a U.S. tech company cutting off Israeli military access during the ongoing Gaza conflict.
Bigger implications The revelations show how major tech companies are involved in military operations abroad, sometimes unknowingly. Microsoft executives, including CEO Satya Nadella, said they were unaware that Unit 8200 had used Azure to store Palestinian call content. The move raises questions about data privacy, ethical responsibility, and overseas storage of sensitive military information, and puts the spotlight on how technology powers modern surveillance and warfare.
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