Cloud, AI, and accountability: Microsoft’s role in Gaza under scrutiny

According to Middle East Monitor, the letter, delivered on 2 December by groups including the Center for Constitutional Rights, Avaaz, GLAN (Global Legal Action Network), and the European Legal Support Center, places Microsoft and its senior executives on notice of their potential exposure to civil and criminal liability under international and domestic law.

“There exists a reasonable and credible basis to believe that Microsoft has, through its provision of technology and services to the Israeli military, played a direct role in Israel’s commission of grave crimes,” states the letter, which outlines how Microsoft’s cloud computing and AI services have been integrated into Israel’s mass surveillance and targeting apparatus.

The coalition highlights that Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed over 70,000 Palestinians since October 2023, with over 170,000 more injured. Infrastructure has been decimated, famine is spreading, and nearly the entire population of Gaza has been displaced. Despite this, Microsoft deepened its ties with Israel’s military, with internal documents showing a surge in cloud and AI service sales to Israeli units actively engaged in the genocidal campaign.

Among the most damning revelations is Microsoft’s work with Israel’s Unit 8200, a military intelligence unit responsible for mass surveillance of Palestinians. Microsoft engineers built a customised Azure cloud platform used to store over 11,500 terabytes of intercepted Palestinian phone calls and data, enabling the development of “kill lists” for airstrikes.

The tech giant also sold thousands of hours of engineering support to the Israeli Ministry of Defence, and its services powered key military units and applications such as the Ofek Unit, Mamram, Unit 81, and Al-Munaseq, all of which have supported Israel’s assault on Gaza.

“Israel’s genocide would be impossible without private Big Tech firms equipping the Israeli military with everything from cloud storage to surveillance technology,” said Bassel El-Rewini, Human Rights Fellow at Abolitionist Law Center. “Faced with an ever-growing body of evidence, implicated companies, including Microsoft, have no excuse for continuing their support to Israel and must be held accountable.”

The letter was issued days before Microsoft’s Annual General Meeting on 5 December, stressing the reputational and financial risks the company now faces. Shareholders are being urged to demand an end to the company’s entanglement with Israeli military operations.

“Microsoft’s services and technologies have been used to violate Palestinian human rights, and shareholders should be aware of just how much this opens up the company to legal liability,” said Eric Sype of 7amleh.

Critics argue that Microsoft has not only enabled Israeli war crimes, but profited from them. As journalist investigations and internal documents show, Microsoft’s sales to Israel’s military skyrocketed after October 2023. The company raced to offer discounts and expanded services while Israel escalated its campaign.

“The scale and speed of Israel’s genocide would have been impossible to execute without Microsoft’s intervention,” the letter concludes.