By Jc Reporter,Jewish News Syndicate

Copyright thejc

Microsoft has terminated the Israeli military’s access to parts of its cloud and artificial intelligence services after confirming that an IDF unit has used its Azure platform to support a mass surveillance programme targeting Palestinian civillians. The move follows an investigation which revealed that Unit 8200, the IDF’s elite signals intelligence branch, had built a vast system to collect, store and analyse millions of phone calls from Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. The programme was capable of intercepting “a million calls an hour” and storing thousands of terabytes of data in Microsoft’s European data centres, according to the investigation published by The Guardian, in conjunction with +972 Magazine and Local Call, two left-wing Israeli news sites. The scale of intercepted calls equalled as much as 8,000 terabytes of data, they found. Microsoft president and vice chair Brad Smith confirmed the company’s decision to cut access in a message to employees yesterday. “We do not provide technology to facilitate mass surveillance of civilians,” Smith wrote. “We have applied this principle in every country around the world, and we have insisted on it repeatedly for more than two decades.” The company’s review, launched after an initial Guardian story in August found evidence that corroborated parts of the allegation, Smith said. “While our review is ongoing, we have found evidence that supports elements of The Guardian’s reporting. This evidence includes information relating to [the Israeli Ministry of Defense’s] consumption of Azure storage capacity in the Netherlands and the use of AI services.” He emphasised that the decision did not involve accessing Israeli military data but was based on Microsoft’s own internal records. “At no point has Microsoft accessed [open source software] IMOD’s customer content. Rather, the review has focused on Microsoft’s own business records, including financial statements, internal documents, and email and messaging communications,” he said. Microsoft informed Israel’s Ministry of Defence that it had ceased and disabled “specified IMOD subscriptions and their services, including their use of specific cloud storage and AI services and technologies,” he continued. He reiterated that the company had made clear to Israeli officials that it would not allow its technology to be used in mass civilian surveillance: “We have reviewed this decision with IMOD and the steps we are taking to ensure compliance with our terms of service, focused on ensuring our services are not used for mass surveillance of civilians.” After the Guardian’s initial story, Unit 8200 quickly transferred its massive data trove out of Microsoft’s Netherlands servers, reportedly moving it to Amazon Web Services (AWS), according to the newspaper. Neither AWS nor the IDF responded to requests for comment. The investigation sparked protests at Microsoft’s US headquarters and one of its European data centres. A campaign by Microsoft workers, “No Azure for Apartheid”, called for the company to end all ties to the Israeli military. Smith stressed, however, that although the company has cut ties with Unit 8200, Microsoft continues to maintain a broader relationship with Israel: “As I said at our recent employee townhall [meeting], this does not impact the important work that Microsoft continues to do to protect the cybersecurity of Israel and other countries in the Middle East, including under the Abraham Accords.” He added that the company would continue to be guided by ethics in its operations: “We will hold every decision, statement, and action to this standard. This is non-negotiable.” The decision marks the first known instance of a US technology company terminating services to the Israeli military since the Gaza war began, according to The Guardian. For Microsoft, the termination underscores an attempt to draw a line between its commitment to its cybersecurity partnership with Israel and its refusal to support surveillance programmes that sweep up civilian communications. “Like every company, we decide what products and services to offer to our customers … We do not provide technology to facilitate mass surveillance of civilians,” Smith said.