Microsoft announced Thursday that it has partially suspended services to Israel’s Defense Ministry. This decision follows an internal company review that determined Israel had breached the terms of service for Microsoft’s products.
The company’s investigation unearthed evidence that Israel was leveraging Microsoft’s cloud storage to store extensive surveillance data pertaining to Palestinians. As detailed in a Microsoft blog post, this data reportedly included millions of daily phone call records among Palestinians, corroborating earlier reports by The Guardian and the Israeli news outlet +972.
Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, emphasized in the blog post the company’s “shared interest in privacy protection.” He highlighted that this commitment builds business value by ensuring customers have “rock solid trust” in their services.
Smith firmly stated that Microsoft would not supply technology designed to “facilitate mass surveillance of civilians.”
The Israeli Ministry of Defense has not yet responded to requests for comment regarding Microsoft’s actions.
This move by Microsoft comes amidst recent pressure from its own employees, who have urged the company to cease Israel’s use of its software. Notably, last month, some current and former staff members even entered Mr. Smith’s office to deliver their protests directly.
While Microsoft refrained from detailing the exact services being discontinued, its blog post confirmed continued support for Israel’s broader cybersecurity initiatives.
An unnamed official within Israel’s Defense Ministry confirmed that Microsoft was indeed restricting access to its cloud storage services. This official noted that, prior to Microsoft’s formal review, Israel had already begun migrating its cloud operations to alternative platforms, such as Amazon.
Both Israel’s Ministry of Defense and its elite military intelligence unit 8200 utilize services from various tech giants, including Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. Last year, The New York Times reported that Israel’s facial recognition program in Gaza benefited from some free Google services. Google itself holds a substantial $1.2 billion cloud computing contract with the Israeli government and military, a partnership that has raised considerable concerns regarding potential reputational damage to the company.