New Report Reveals How Israeli Military Utilizes Microsoft Tech For Surveillance of Palestinians

By Elijah Gonzalez | August 7, 2025 | 4:00pm

Video Games News Xbox

New Report Reveals How Israeli Military Utilizes Microsoft Tech For Surveillance of Palestinians

As organizations like Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) continue to boycott Microsoft (and by extension Xbox) for supplying the Israeli military with Azure cloud computing technology, a new joint report by the Guardian, Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine, and Hebrew-language outlet Local Call details the specifics of how Israeli intelligence organizations have used Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure.

The report alleges that after a 2021 meeting between Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Yossi Sariel, the former leader of the Israeli military surveillance agency Unit 8200, Microsoft began supporting Israel via a customized segment of the company’s Azure cloud platform.

Using this technology, Unit 8200 began a massive surveillance operation to monitor millions of mobile calls made each day by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, storing this glut of data on Azure servers, many of which were overseas in the Netherlands and Ireland.

According to the Guardian’s sources at Unit 8200, this stored data was used to plan deadly airstrikes and other military operations in Gaza and the West Bank. Specifically, they would use their cloud-based system to examine calls made by those near a particular target. Additionally, these sources said that this cloud data “had been used to blackmail people, place them in detention, or even justify their killing after the fact,” even before the 2023 conflict began. Sources also indicated that the usage of the technology has increased during the campaign in Gaza.

Most Popular

While a Microsoft spokesperson said that the company wasn’t aware of what data was being stored on its servers, documents gathered as part of The Guardian’s report allegedly indicate that Microsoft engineers were aware that raw intelligence and audio files would be stored on their service Additionally Israel-based Microsoft staff, including former members of Unit 8200, seemed to have a fairly precise idea of what the project aimed to achieve.

As one source said to the Guardian, “You don’t have to be a genius to figure it out. You tell [Microsoft] we don’t have any more space on the servers, that it’s audio files. It’s pretty clear what it is.” Microsoft and Unit 8200 engineers worked together closely on the project, with a document apparently stating “The rhythm of interaction with [the unit] is daily, top down and bottom up.”

According to the Guardian, a Microsoft spokesperson attempted to downplay Nadella’s involvement, stating that he “attended for 10 minutes at the end of the meeting” with Sariel. However, leaked internal documents indicated that Nadella said, “building the partnership [with Israel] is so critical” and that “Microsoft is committed to providing resources to support.” According to the files they saw, Microsoft believed the partnership would bring in hundreds of millions in revenue and that it was “an incredibly powerful brand moment” for Azure.

The news comes 22 months into the Israel military’s campaign in Gaza, which has killed more than 60,000 people in the region, the majority of whom are civilians, including more than 18,000 children.

Amidst general outrage over the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Microsoft has faced increasing backlash for its involvement, including internal demonstrations, investor concerns, and mounting boycott pressure from organizations like the BDS movement.

As for how that relates to gaming, BDS encourages consumers to boycott Microsoft Gaming products by cancelling their Xbox Game Pass subscription, uninstalling and boycotting key games owned by the company (like Minecraft, Call of Duty, Candy Crush, etc), and boycotting the Xbox platform and hardware.