US tech giant Microsoft supercharging Israeli war machine in Gaza: Report

American technology giant Microsoft plays a significant role and is complicit in the Israeli regime’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip by providing the occupying entity with advanced artificial intelligence (AI) tools, finances, and workforce, says a recent report.

The report, published by Quds News Network on Saturday, revealed that Microsoft is among the most prominent global technology companies that has established a strong and influential presence in the Israeli war on Gaza.

It also pointed to the application of Microsoft’s dual-use technologies by Israel against the Palestinians.

The report underlined that the tech giant maintains offices and development centers in major cities across the occupied territories, including Herzliya, Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Nazareth.

These centers, according to the report, focus on developing advanced technologies in cybersecurity, AI, business intelligence, big data, and healthcare.

The report quotes Steve Ballmer, the company’s former CEO, as saying that Microsoft was “as much an Israeli company as it is an American one,” highlighting the deep relationship between the company and Israel after October 7, 2023, when the regime launched its onslaught on Gaza.

The report said in the months after October 7, the Israeli military’s reliance on Microsoft’s cloud services surged more than 200-fold and petabytes of data from drones, checkpoints, and biometric scanners poured into the company’s servers, feeding AI systems that human rights groups warn are being used to target civilians in Gaza.

The Israeli military’s use of Microsoft’s massive server banks increased by about two-thirds in the first two months of the war alone, the report said.

It added that a contract worth $133 million was signed between Microsoft and the Israeli ministry of military affairs, with the regime spending $10 million to purchase 19,000 hours of engineering support from Microsoft between June and October 2023.

“This isn’t an accident of technology falling into the wrong hands; it’s the product of a decades-long relationship between Microsoft and Israel, a partnership that spans military contracts, surveillance programs, and the recruitment of hundreds of ex-soldiers into its workforce,” the report highlighted.

“From its first R&D center in occupied Haifa to its current role in powering the Israeli military’ AI infrastructure, Microsoft has been deeply embedded in the architecture of colonialism.”

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‘According to the report, Microsoft acknowledged selling advanced artificial intelligence and cloud computing services to the Israeli military, which are critical for automating the regime’s attacks.

“The Israeli military uses the Azure platform to transcribe, translate, and process intelligence gathered through mass surveillance, which can then be linked to Israel’s AI-based targeting systems,” the report said, quoting a senior Israeli military officer as describing cloud technology as “a weapon in every sense of the word.”

The report also stated that Microsoft integrates its engineers into Israeli military units to work on highly sensitive and classified projects, such as a “surveillance system used to monitor Palestinians,” working closely with the Military Intelligence Directorate, including the notorious surveillance unit, Unit 8200.

Microsoft was also said to have employed over 1,000 former Israeli soldiers and officers in its offices within the occupied territories, with many also working in its global branches.

Investigations based on leaked employee records reveal that more than 300 former Israeli spies currently work at Microsoft, according to the report.

The Microsoft team dedicated to servicing the Israeli military account includes a senior executive who served 14 years in Unit 8200 and a former head of information technology in military intelligence.

“Microsoft’s hiring of large numbers of former Israeli intelligence soldiers and officers, particularly from Unit 8200, suggests an organized, informal ‘recruitment pipeline’ linking the Israeli military/intelligence establishment with Microsoft,” the report said.

It also underlined that Microsoft pressed ahead with its collaboration with the occupying regime despite facing widespread protests from its employees and human rights organizations, such as the “No Azure for Apartheid” group, which has repeatedly slammed the tech giant for complicity in the genocide in Gaza.

“Employees who publicly protested Microsoft’s contracts with the Israeli military were fired, sparking further controversy,” the report said. “Human rights organizations criticized the use of AI systems in targeting decisions, noting that they may be flawed and lead to innocent deaths.”

Stressing that the criticism of Microsoft’s role in Israel highlights a major gap in the ethical accountability of multinational tech companies, the report added, “As the use of AI and cloud computing in military contexts grows, there is an urgent need for robust international governance frameworks to ensure these technologies are not used to violate human rights or the laws of war.”

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been committing genocide in the Gaza Strip by killing, starving, and displacing Palestinians, ignoring international calls and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt it.

The genocide has left 61,369 dead and 152,850 injured, most of them children and women. Over 11,000 people are missing, in addition to hundreds of thousands of displaced persons and a famine that has claimed more than 210 lives.

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