Microsoft Restricts Israeli Intelligence Unit’s Access to Cloud Services After Surveillance Allegations By The Media Line Staff Microsoft has halted parts of its cooperation with Israel’s elite Unit 8200, following reports that the intelligence unit used the company’s Azure platform to store and process massive volumes of intercepted Palestinian communications. According to the Guardian, Microsoft […]
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The Media Line: Microsoft Restricts Israeli Intelligence Unit’s Access to Cloud Services After Surveillance Allegations
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Microsoft Restricts Israeli Intelligence Unit’s Access to Cloud Services After Surveillance Allegations
By The Media Line Staff
Microsoft has halted parts of its cooperation with Israel’s elite Unit 8200, following reports that the intelligence unit used the company’s Azure platform to store and process massive volumes of intercepted Palestinian communications.
According to the Guardian, Microsoft informed Israeli officials last week that the unit had breached its terms of service by keeping extensive surveillance data in the cloud. The decision came after a joint investigation by the Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call alleged that Unit 8200 had built a system capable of recording and analyzing millions of daily phone calls in Gaza and the West Bank.
The reporting claimed the surveillance project began after a 2021 meeting between Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella and then-commander Yossi Sariel. With Azure’s nearly limitless computing power, the unit developed a program so sweeping that officers described it internally with the phrase “a million calls an hour.” Sources told the Guardian that as much as 8,000 terabytes of Palestinian calls were housed in a Microsoft datacenter in the Netherlands before being moved out of the country in August, apparently to Amazon Web Services.
Microsoft responded to the revelations by launching an urgent external review. Its findings prompted the company to cut the unit’s access to some cloud storage and artificial intelligence services, though officials emphasized the wider relationship with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) remains intact. Brad Smith, Microsoft’s vice-chair and president, wrote to employees that the company had “ceased and disabled a set of services to a unit within the Israel ministry of defense,” adding that Microsoft does not provide technology “to facilitate mass surveillance of civilians.”
The Guardian reported that Unit 8200 had anticipated the move and secured its data before the shutdown, ensuring no material was lost. Neither the IDF nor Amazon offered comment.
The development ends a three-year period in which the spy agency relied on Microsoft’s technology, highlighting the growing scrutiny of ties between global technology firms and Israel’s military operations in Gaza.