• 'Meta still allowed many Israeli figures to continue to use its platforms to incite violence against Palestinians,' Jalal Abukhater, advocacy manager at 7amleh, tells Anadolu

ISTANBUL

Meta. Google. Amazon. Microsoft. They are the world’s most powerful technology giants – synonymous with innovation, connectivity, and the digital age.

Yet, as Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza enters its third year, mounting evidence suggest that their tools, data systems, and artificial intelligence networks have been weaponized to sustain one of the most devastating military campaigns of the 21st century.

From AI-assisted targeting of Palestinian civilians to mass surveillance and censorship of dissent, these companies’ technologies have been accused of becoming integral to Israel’s war machinery.

Leaked documents, whistleblower accounts, and investigative reports reveal that cloud computing, facial recognition systems, and data analytics provided by these firms have helped enable what human rights experts call a campaign of extermination and control.

The role of tech giants

Last month, Microsoft announced that it severed services to an Israeli military unit operating a vast surveillance system that monitored millions of Palestinian phone calls in Gaza and the West Bank.

“I want to let you know that Microsoft has ceased and disabled a set of services to a unit within the Israel Ministry of Defense (IMOD),” said Brad Smith, Microsoft’s vice chair and president.

The move came after The Guardian reported that the Israeli military is “using Azure for the storage of data files of phone calls obtained through broad or mass surveillance of civilians in Gaza and the West Bank.”

Microsoft, which has operated in Israel since 1991, has faced growing accusations of being among the Big Tech firms in the Gaza genocide. Its cloud computing platform Azure has been used to store and process data collected from Palestinians through surveillance systems.

Nisreen Jaradat, a former Microsoft employee, calls the company “the most complicit digital arms manufacturer in the Gaza genocide.”

Jaradat, who is a member of the No Azure for Apartheid campaign and one of several Microsoft workers fired for speaking out, said: "The scale of the genocide that the Israeli occupation is committing in Palestine would not be possible without the help and abetment and direct complicity of Big Tech companies, especially Microsoft."

She cited several services Microsoft provides that directly support surveillance. She said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella reportedly met with the head of Israel’s Unit 8200 in 2021, approving within minutes the mass storage and processing of Palestinian communications.

She added that the Almunasseq app, which Palestinians need to download for permit management, is hosted on Azure, collecting sensitive personal data that can be exploited by Israeli authorities.

“Microsoft also reportedly provides AI services to translate, transcribe, and analyze intercepted calls and messages from Palestinians,” she said.

Jaradat said that when the company banned the words “Palestine,” “genocide,” and apartheid terms in staff emails, she tried to address the issue through internal channels.

“I bypassed it less than 48 hours after the ban, and sent an email to thousands of staff. I said that the move to ban these words is extremely discriminatory and racist, and it shows how much Microsoft does not value Palestinian life or Palestinian suffering. I highlighted Microsoft's complicity and genocide, and I had a call to action," with the action resulting in financial sanctions against her,” she said.

Big Tech’s military integration

Regarding the role of other companies, UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, in her report, From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide, documents how in 2021, Israel awarded Google and Amazon a $1.2 billion contract known as Project Nimbus to build core tech infrastructure.

“Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon grant Israel virtually government‑wide access to their cloud and artificial intelligence technologies, enhancing data processing, decision‑making and surveillance and analysis capacities. In October 2023, when the Israeli internal military cloud overloaded, Microsoft, with its Azure platform, and the Project Nimbus consortium stepped in with critical cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure,” Albanese said.

Albanese also quoted an Israeli colonel who, in July 2024, described cloud technology as “a weapon in every sense of the word.”

AI and surveillance

According to Albanese's report, the Israeli military has developed artificial intelligence systems, such as “Lavender”, “Gospel” and “Where’s Daddy?” to process data and generate lists of targets, reshaping modern warfare and illustrating the dual-use nature of artificial intelligence. Palantir Technologies Inc., whose tech collaboration with Israel long predates October 2023, expanded its support to the Israeli military post-October 2023, it said.

Jalal Abukhater, an advocacy manager at 7amleh, a Palestinian digital rights organization, points out that Israel’s military lacks the capacity to analyze all collected data internally, pushing it to outsource to tech firms.

“So, the Israeli military has developed and it boasts that it has developed those AI targeting systems, but what we are observing is that through the collaboration with private companies, those companies might not be fully aware of the end of how Israel's military is using the services,” he said.

However, he points out that the companies are willingly cooperating.

“The companies are willingly cooperating with the Israeli government, the Ministry of Defense, and also the Israeli army in providing access to those cloud service tools and providing assistance through artificial intelligence tools,” Abukhater said.

"So for us, that's a condemnation enough of the role played by those companies, because those companies are cooperating and collaborating with an entity that is committing genocide and war crimes."

Censorship and online hate campaigns

Beyond the battlefield, tech companies have been accused of suppressing pro-Palestine voices while allowing hate speech that incites violence against Palestinians.

A recent 7amleh report criticized Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, for what it called “algorithmic discrimination.”

Abukhater said Meta allowed Israeli figures to continue publishing inciting content, even after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to curb genocide incitement.

“Meta still allowed many Israeli figures to continue to use its platforms to incite violence against Palestinians,” he said. “We look at the role of Meta in this specific case, in contrast with their behavior in silencing so many Palestinian voices in a very disproportionate and large manner.”

The report draws historical parallels with past atrocities, noting that the media were held accountable during the Rwanda and Nuremberg tribunals for incitement.

“We also look at examples where Facebook has been involved in amplifying hate and violence in northern Ethiopia, in Tigray, and against the Rohingya refugees in Myanmar, where Facebook has been accused of inflaming tensions and encouraging violence through its algorithmic systems,” Abukhater said.

"So for us, it's important to create the groundwork that an online platform can and should be held accountable for its role in amplifying harmful content, especially in genocide."

Anadolu also reached out to Meta, Google and Amazon for comments but received no reply till the publishing of this report.

Microsoft responded and referred to an earlier statement by its Vice Chair and President Brad Smith, in which he said the company has ceased and disabled a set of services to a unit within the Israeli Defense Ministry, adding that a review of allegations is still ongoing.

Call for accountability

Abukhater said digital rights advocates are now building a legal framework to hold tech firms accountable under international and domestic law.

According to him, there has been precedent with Facebook being held accountable for its actions in Myanmar.

“They take time, but eventually the private actors will have to be responsible, either to pay for violations because they have obligations under international legal frameworks,” he said, adding: “We work on evidence, creating the groundwork so that other actors can continue this work and hopefully bring strong cases to courts and international jurisdictions, and hold the companies accountable.”