Microsoft block Israel's access to Azure and genAI tech used to surveil millions of Palestinian phone calls, according to report

Amid ongoing boycott of Xbox and Microsoft's gaming services

Amid a user boycott of their Xbox business, Microsoft are seemingly ending the Israeli military's entree to definite Azure unreality and generative AI technologies utilized to surveil Palestinians successful Gaza and the West Bank. As reported by the Guardian, 1 of the publications who primitively exposed the surveillance project, the institution told Israeli officials past week that spy bureau Unit 8200 had violated Microsoft's presumption of work by storing records of civilian telephone calls and different information connected Azure servers.

Microsoft's vice-chair and president Brad Smith allegedly informed unit of the termination of the Unit 8200 concern successful an email sent connected Thursday 18th September, shared with the Guardian. In that email, helium said that Microsoft had "ceased and disabled a acceptable of services to a portion wrong the Israel ministry of defense", including unreality retention and AI services. "We bash not supply exertion to facilitate wide surveillance of civilians," the email continues. "We person applied this rule successful each state astir the world, and we person insisted connected it repeatedly for much than 2 decades."

The Guardian besides mention different email from a elder Microsoft enforcement to Israel's ministry of defence, sent precocious past week, successful which the enforcement noted that "[w]hile our reappraisal is ongoing, we person astatine this juncture identified grounds that supports elements of the Guardian's reporting."

Microsoft confirmed that they had supplied exertion and services to the Israeli subject during the latter's existent Gaza violative this May, pursuing an probe of the alleged usage of Microsoft genAI models to facilitate airstrikes, among different operations.

A protestation by Microsoft unit astatine the company's office successful August 2025. | Image credit: No Azure For Apartheid / Rock Paper Shotgun

In August this year, a associated probe by the Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call recovered that Microsoft had worked with Unit 8200 specifically to make an "indiscriminate caller system" for gathering information connected Palestinians, including a sizeable excavation of non-combatants. For context, according to alleged leaked Israeli subject intelligence, astir 83% of the tens of thousands of Palestinians reported killed successful the existent conflict's archetypal 19 months were civilians.

The reporting inspired the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions organisation to motorboat a run against Microsoft's gaming business. Microsoft workers person been openly protesting against their employer's engagement with the battle connected Gaza since aboriginal 2024.

Back successful May, Microsoft insisted that they had recovered "no evidence" that their exertion was being utilized to people oregon harm Palestinians, pursuing a reappraisal carried retired by an unnamed 3rd party. In August, a spokesperson announced that they would transportation retired different review, portion insisting that "[a]t nary clip during this engagement has Microsoft been alert of the surveillance of civilians oregon postulation of their cellphone conversations utilizing Microsoft's services, including done the outer reappraisal it commissioned."

Image credit: No Azure For Apartheid / Rock Paper Shotgun

The Guardian assertion that arsenic overmuch arsenic 8000 terabytes of intercepted calls were being held successful Azure datacentres successful the Netherlands arsenic portion of the Microsoft/Unit 8200 partnership. The insubstantial adds that Unit 8200 look to person swiftly moved the information elsewhere successful the aftermath of their reporting. Israel present allegedly program to transportation it each to Amazon's Web Services unreality level - neither Amazon nor the Israel Defense Forces person responded to the Guardian's petition for comment.

The reported partial divestment from Israel doesn't uncover which "elements" of the Guardian's reporting Microsoft person corroborated arsenic portion of their review. Microsoft proceed to person a wider commercialized narration with the Israeli equipped forces. They are besides acold from the lone large overseas exertion institution to person important dealings with Israel's military, earlier and during the existent penetration and demolition of Gaza - an Associated Press probe successful February besides mentions Google, Amazon, Palantir, Cisco, and Oracle. A UN peculiar rapporteur has accused occidental tech firms astatine ample arsenic being complicit successful an "economy of genocide".

We precocious interviewed a fig of developers, including erstwhile Microsoft idiosyncratic Abdo Mohamed, astir their information successful No Azure for Apartheid and the BDS enactment against Microsoft.