Cloud and AI giant; Azure stored Unit 8200's mass surveillance of Palestinians
Company · United States · Organization
Microsoft, led by CEO Satya Nadella, ran the Azure cloud that held Israel's mass surveillance of Palestinians. An Aug 2025 investigation by The Guardian, +972 Magazine and Local Call found that Unit 8200, Israel's military intelligence unit, stored vast volumes of intercepted Palestinian phone calls on Azure servers in the Netherlands and Ireland; three Unit 8200 sources said the system helped guide deadly air strikes. In Feb 2025 AP reported that the Israeli military's use of Microsoft and OpenAI AI had spiked to nearly 200 times its pre-Oct 7 level by March 2024, and its data on Microsoft servers doubled to more than 13.6 petabytes. Microsoft had said in May 2025 that it found 'no evidence' of harm. In Sept 2025 it disabled 'specified' Israel Ministry of Defense subscriptions, but fired workers say most of the military contract remains. It fired at least four protesting employees in Aug 2025. Microsoft earned $133.7B on $331.8B revenue in FY2026 and owns 27% of OpenAI.
The Guardian, +972 and Local Call revealed in August 2025 that Unit 8200 stored intercepted Palestinian calls on Azure, aiming for 'a million calls an hour', after Yossi Sariel met CEO Satya Nadella in Seattle in November 2021. About 11,500 terabytes sat in Microsoft's Netherlands data center. Sources said the data was used 'to plan lethal airstrikes in Gaza, as well as to arrest Palestinians in the West Bank.'
Sources: aljazeera.com, timesofisrael.com, Al Jazeera (reporting Guardian/+972/Local Call)
AP found the Israeli military's use of Microsoft and OpenAI AI spiked to nearly 200 times pre-7 October levels by March 2024, with stored data doubling to more than 13.6 petabytes. +972 reported the Israel Ministry of Defense bought 19,000 hours of Microsoft engineering support for $10M between October 2023 and June 2024, serving units including Unit 8200 and the Air Force's Ofek target-bank unit. Microsoft itself confirms it provides the ministry with Azure cloud and AI services, including translation.
Sources: AP (via ABC News), en.wikipedia.org, Microsoft statement on the issues relating to technology services in Israel and Gaza
In September 2025 Brad Smith said Microsoft had 'found evidence that supports elements of The Guardian's reporting' and disabled 'specified IMOD subscriptions'. The vast majority of its Israeli military contract stayed in place, Al Jazeera reported, and the unit planned to move the data to AWS. Microsoft earned $133.7B on $331.8B revenue in fiscal 2026 and owns 27% of OpenAI, worth about $135B.
Sources: Microsoft, Al Jazeera, timesofisrael.com, Microsoft, Al Jazeera
● confirmed by a primary document · ○ reported
Bill Gates stepped down from the company's Board of Directors to dedicate more time to his philanthropic priorities ... He will continue to serve as Technology Advisor to CEO Satya Nadella and other leaders in the company.
$114.2B ... his Microsoft stake is now less than 1%, Forbes estimates ... Gates, who's donated more than $63.9 billion to the Gates Foundation, announced in 2025 that the foundation will shut down in 20 years
Israel's elite cyber-intelligence unit stored vast volumes of intercepted Palestinian phone calls on Microsoft's cloud servers ... Three sources from Unit 8200 said that the cloud-based system helped guide deadly air strikes and shaped operations across the occupied Palestinian territories.
Blackrock is the second largest institutional investor in Palantir (8.6 per cent), Microsoft (7.8 per cent), Amazon.com (6.6 per cent), Alphabet (6.6 per cent) and IBM (8.6 per cent).
Microsoft will still hold a stake of about $135bn, or 27 percent, in OpenAI Group PBC
Annual revenue totaled $331.8 billion ... Net income came in at $133.7 billion [fetch-tool rendering] ... a $3.2 billion gain from the company's investment in Anthropic
Between October 2023 and June 2024 alone, the Israeli Defense Ministry spent $10 million to purchase 19,000 hours of engineering support from Microsoft.
Microsoft provides IMOD with software, professional services, Azure cloud services, and Azure AI services, including language translation. ... Microsoft provided limited emergency support to the Israeli government in the weeks following October 7, 2023
evidence that supports elements of The Guardian's reporting. This evidence includes information relating to IMOD consumption of Azure storage capacity in the Netherlands and the use of AI services. ... specified IMOD subscriptions and their services, including their use of specific cloud storage and AI services and technologies.
Israel's elite cyber-intelligence unit stored vast volumes of intercepted Palestinian phone calls on Microsoft's cloud servers ... Three sources from Unit 8200 said that the cloud-based system helped guide deadly air strikes and shaped operations across the occupied Palestinian territories.
We have informed IMOD of Microsoft's decision to cease and disable specified IMOD subscriptions and their services, including their use of specific cloud storage and AI services. ... The vast majority of Microsoft's contract with the Israeli military remains intact.
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Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft
Microsoft provides IMOD with software, professional services, Azure cloud services, and Azure AI services, including language translation.
Satya Nadella Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
The chairman and chief executive of the software and cloud megacorp was handed total compensation of $96.5 million for Microsoft's fiscal 2025
Advanced AI models are provided through OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, through Microsoft's Azure cloud platform, where they are purchased by the Israeli military, the documents and data show.