Microsoft cancels Israeli spy unit access after tech worker revolt

In a stunning and massive development, tech giant Microsoft has announced that it is terminating parts of the Israeli military’s access to proprietary technology that it was using to conduct mass surveillance and targeting of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. “Microsoft told Israeli officials late last week that Unit 8200, the military’s elite spy agency, had violated the company’s terms of service by storing the vast trove of surveillance data in its Azure cloud platform,” the Guardian reports. “The termination is the first known case of a US technology company withdrawing services provided to the Israeli military since the beginning of its war on Gaza.” This major development would not have happened without the joint-investigative work of reporters at The Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call exposing Microsoft’s complicity with Unit 8200’s mass-surveillance campaign, but it also would not have happened without the disruptive protests by tech workers within Microsoft. In this panel discussion, we speak with three fired Microsoft tech workers and members of the “No Azure for Apartheid” campaign—Nisreen Jaradat, Julius Shan, and Anna Hattle—about the role workers have played in pressuring Microsoft to end its complicity in Israel’s war crimes.

Additional Links/Info:

• No Azure for Apartheid Instagram and Linktree
• Maximillian Alvarez, The Nation, “How Microsoft workers helped halt a major contract with the Israeli military”
• Harry Davies & Yuval Abraham, The Guardian, “Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its technology in mass surveillance of Palestinians”
• Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “The biggest labor story in the US right now is happening at Microsoft”
• Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “‘Microsoft is an active partner in the genocide!’: Inside the tech worker revolt for Palestine”
• Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “Cops violently dismantle Palestine encampment at Microsoft HQ, arrest protestors”
• Harry Davies & Yuval Abraham, The Guardian, “‘A million calls an hour’: Israel relying on Microsoft cloud for expansive surveillance of Palestinians”

Credits:

• Studio Production: David Hebden
• Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor