Microsoft building occupation: How cloud computing giants serve Israel

Protests by Microsoft employees demanding the company end its ties to Israel reached a climax on Tuesday.

Yesterday, protesters entered Microsoft 's Redmond headquarters in the US state of Washington and reached President Brad Smith's office, and the building was locked down as a result of the occupation movement.

Protesters live-streamed the sit-in protest at the headquarters building on Twitch, chanting, “Brad Smith, you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide!”

Microsoft did not respond to TechCrunch's request for comment during the day. But in the hours following the occupation, Smith addressed the events at an emergency press conference held near his desk. Smith said that of the seven protesters, only two were Microsoft employees and one was a former Google employee.

However, according to a report by The Verge, the protesters included both active Microsoft employees and former employees who had been fired in the past for activism.

WHAT IS THE CONNECTION BETWEEN CLOUD COMPUTING AND ISRAEL?

The protest was part of a series of actions by current and former employees related to Microsoft's cloud contracts with the Israeli government. Last week, 20 activists were detained at the company's Redmond, Washington, headquarters.

Protesters' agenda includes Microsoft's decision to make its Azure cloud computing service available to Israeli authorities.

Israeli military intelligence Unit 8200 is equipped with Azure's virtually unlimited storage capacity, and there are strong suspicions that the technology is being used to spy on Gazans. A recent investigation by the Guardian reveals that Israel uses Microsoft services to collect and record millions of daily phone calls in Gaza and the West Bank.

Microsoft maintains that it was unaware of what kind of data Unit 8200 planned to store in Azure when it made the deal with Israel. However, leaked Microsoft documents and interviews with 11 sources from the company and Israeli military intelligence show that Unit 8200 used Azure to store this extensive archive of Palestinian daily communications.

The cloud-based storage platform facilitated the preparation of deadly Israeli airstrikes and shaped military operations in Gaza and the West Bank, three sources from Unit 8200 told the Guardian.

Israel has long listened in on phone calls in the occupied territories through its control of Palestinian telecommunications infrastructure.

But this new system allows intelligence officers to replay the content of cell phone calls made by Palestinians and record the conversations of a much larger group of ordinary civilians.

Intelligence sources say they have access to "one million calls per hour."

MILLION-DOLLAR DEALS SINCE THE WAR

Leaked documents revealed that Microsoft's reliance on cloud technology and artificial intelligence systems increased during the most intense phase of the Israeli army's bombardment of Gaza.

The documents presented evidence that Microsoft deepened its relationship with the Israeli defense establishment after October 7, 2023, providing the military with better computing and storage services and striking at least $10 million in deals for thousands of hours of technical support.

Microsoft's deep ties to the Israeli military were revealed in an investigation conducted by the Guardian in collaboration with the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and the Hebrew-language publication Local Call. The investigation is based on documents obtained by Drop Site News.

Multiple Israeli military sources say the army has become increasingly reliant on companies such as Microsoft, Amazon and Google to store and analyse larger volumes of data and intelligence information over longer periods of time since the war began.

PROJECT NIMBUS

The latest action by Microsoft employees is reminiscent of tactics adopted by Google employees a year ago.

In April 2024, nine Google employees held simultaneous protests at their New York and California offices, with five occupying Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian's office for nine hours. The employees, who wrote their demands on a whiteboard, wore T-shirts reading "Googlers against genocide."

The Google protests at the time were against a $1.2 billion contract called Project Nimbus, which provides cloud computing and artificial intelligence tools to the Israeli government and military. The protests were livestreamed on Twitch, and three days later, 28 employees were fired.

Project Nimbus is a cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure project for the Israeli government and military. It provides data storage and processing services using cloud platforms from companies like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon.

The project's goal was to facilitate data management, analytics, and AI applications in Israel's military and government systems. Its use in surveillance systems against Palestinians was the catalyst for the protests.

NO STEP FROM COMPANIES

Despite the protests, none of the tech giants decided to withdraw from Project Nimbus.

Google made recommendations to prevent the project's AI tools from being used in military operations, but these recommendations were not fully implemented. Approximately 50 Google employees who opposed the project were fired for participating in protests.

Amazon also continued its involvement in the project, even announcing plans to invest $7.2 billion in a data center in Israel in 2023.

Microsoft, however, bid on this project in 2021 but was unsuccessful. After losing the project, the Israeli government was allowed to continue using the Azure platform. This is interpreted as Microsoft's indirect involvement in the project and its continued cooperation with the Israeli government.