Over the past decade, Microsoft has worked hard to present itself as the friendly face of big tech, owing to its climatological pledges and investments, as well as its diversity, accessibility, and inclusion initiatives.
For all the good those initiatives may or may have not done — Microsoft has always shown that it will go where the money is above all else. And to that end, Microsoft has found itself at the center of a new storm of controversy over its support for Israel.
Employee protests have disrupted various Microsoft events to shed light on the tech firm's dealings with Israel and its military arm, the IDF. The IDF has been accused repeatedly of indiscriminately targeting innocent Gazan civilians and children in its war with terror group Hamas, following Hamas' prolific 2023 music festival terror attack and hostage taking action. The IDF is currently under investigation around the world for potential war crimes, including by Israel itself.
In May, Microsoft admitted that it supplied technologies to the Israeli Ministry of Defence, which critics say essentially paint Microsoft as a war profiteer. A new report from UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese doubles down on this claim.
Commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council, Albanese asserts that Microsoft and other big tech firms continue to expand their cloud infrastructure into the Israeli military complex, profiting to the tune of billions as thousands of innocent Gazan civilians suffer and are displaced. The full report can be read here.
"Microsoft has been active in Israel since 1991," the report reads, "developing its largest centre outside the United States. Its technologies are embedded in the prison service, police, universities and schools – including in colonies. Microsoft has been integrating its systems and civilian tech across the Israeli military since 2003, while acquiring Israeli cybersecurity and surveillance start-ups.
As Israeli apartheid, military and population-control systems generate increasing volumes of data, its reliance on cloud storage and computing has grown. In 2021, Israel awarded Alphabet Inc. (Google) and Amazon.com, Inc. a $1.2 billion contract (Project Nimbus) – largely funded through Ministry of Defense expenditure – to provide core tech infrastructure."
Microsoft claims its dealings with Israel amount to standard commercial contracts. During the previous May report, Microsoft investigated itself and found no evidence of wrongdoing. Details of these reviews, internally or externally, were never shared publicly.
"Based on our review, including both our internal assessments and external review, we have found no evidence that Microsoft’s Azure and AI technologies, or any of our other software, have been used to harm people or that IMOD has failed to comply with our terms of service or our AI Code of Conduct."
The UN report continues, stating that Microsoft Azure was indirectly cited as a "weapon" by an Israeli colonel during an IT conference.
"Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon grant Israel virtually government-wide access to their cloud and artificial intelligence technologies, enhancing data processing, decision making and surveillance and analysis capacities.
In October 2023, when the Israeli internal military cloud overloaded, Microsoft, with its Azure platform, and the Project Nimbus consortium stepped in with critical cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure. Their Israel-located servers ensure data sovereignty and a shield from accountability, under favourable contracts offering minimal restrictions or oversight. In July 2024, an Israeli colonel described cloud tech as a weapon in every sense of the word, citing these companies."
Microsoft employee activist group, No Azure for Apartheid, is lobbying Microsoft to terminate all Azure contracts in Israel, and calls out the firm for violating its own ethics code in continuing to operate in Israel and other countries that desecrate human rights.
Microsoft previously stated that it shares "profound concern" over the loss of civilian life in "both Israel and Gaza," while claiming it supports humanitarian assistance in both regions and in others across the Middle East. Microsoft suspended new sales in Russia in 2022 owing to the conflict in Ukraine, while pledging over $35 million to support Ukraine's defence and civilian humanitarian efforts.
In Microsoft's Q3 FY 2025 statements, the firm revealed over $70 billion in revenue, largely driven by cloud, with a net income of $25.8 billion.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
