Microsoft cuts cloud services to Israeli military unit after report of storing Palestinians' calls

Microsoft has announced a suspension of certain cloud services for a branch of the Israeli Ministry of Defense. The company's decision follows an investigation into a report from The Guardian, which claimed that the Israeli Defense Forces' Unit 8200 had developed a system to monitor Palestinians' phone communications. In an email to staff, Microsoft president Brad Smith confirmed findings that corroborate parts of the Guardian's report. The evidence reportedly includes details about the Israeli Ministry of Defense's use of Azure cloud services in the Netherlands, as well as AI services. This action is a response to internal employee protests regarding the use of Microsoft's technology in the ongoing conflict in Gaza. Over recent weeks, Microsoft has faced backlash from its workforce, leading to the termination of five employees involved in protests at its Redmond headquarters. This decision comes on the heels of a United Nations commission's assertion that Israel's actions in Gaza amount to genocide against the Palestinian people. According to Smith, Microsoft informed Israeli defense officials of its decision to terminate the cloud storage and AI services utilized by the agency. He emphasized that the review process did not involve examining customer data and expressed gratitude to The Guardian for shedding light on the situation. In a related development, The Guardian reported that intelligence sources suggested Unit 8200 is considering transitioning its phone call data management to Amazon Web Services, a leading public cloud provider. AWS has yet to respond to these claims.