Everything You Need to Know: Microsoft Cuts AI Services to Israel

On September 25, 2025, Microsoft made a rare and unprecedented move: it cut off the Israeli military’s access to some of its cloud and AI services. The decision came after an investigation revealed that Israel’s Unit 8200, its infamous spy agency, was using Microsoft Azure to store and analyze millions of Palestinians’ phone calls. This surveillance directly fueled repression and deadly airstrikes on Gaza.

This marks the first time a U.S. tech giant has disabled services for the Israeli military since the genocide in Gaza began.

Here is everything you need to know.

🕵️ What Was Israel Doing With Microsoft?

• A joint investigation by The Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call exposed how Israel’s Unit 8200 built a surveillance system inside Microsoft’s Azure cloud.
• The program was so massive that insiders called it the “million calls an hour” project. It intercepted and recorded phone calls from Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank at a scale never seen before.
• Reports revealed 8,000 terabytes of data stored in Microsoft’s Netherlands data center. Intelligence officers could search, replay, and mine private calls using AI tools.
• The surveillance was not just passive. Sources say it was used to pick bombing targets in Gaza.

💻 Microsoft Finally Responds

After weeks of public pressure and media reports, Microsoft’s president Brad Smith admitted the allegations were credible. In a memo to employees, he announced:

“We do not provide technology to facilitate mass surveillance of civilians.”

Microsoft then informed Israel’s Ministry of Defense that it had disabled a set of services connected to Unit 8200’s surveillance program.

This block included certain Azure cloud storage and AI tools, but it did not end Microsoft’s broader contracts with Israel, including cybersecurity support and other government tech deals.

✊ Activists Made This Happen

This was not an act of corporate kindness. It was the result of relentless organizing:

• The campaign “No Azure for Apartheid” has been targeting Microsoft for over a year, with sit-ins, office occupations, and protests at company events.
• Microsoft even fired employees for joining Palestine solidarity actions inside its offices.
• Less than a month after activists staged a sit-in at Brad Smith’s office, Microsoft caved. This proves that direct action works.

As organizer Hossam Nasr said:

“This is the first U.S. tech company to stop selling certain technologies to the Israeli military since the genocide began. It is a significant win but not enough.”

⚠️ Why This Matters

1. Surveillance Equals Oppression
   Unit 8200’s mass spying has long been used to blackmail, intimidate, and repress Palestinians. Hosting this system on U.S. corporate infrastructure gave it enormous scale.
2. Corporate Complicity
   For years, Big Tech has quietly powered Israel’s military occupation. Microsoft’s decision shows they can cut ties, but only under pressure.
3. Not Over Yet
   Israel has already moved the data to Amazon Web Services (AWS). Without public pressure, the surveillance will simply continue elsewhere.

🚫 What Microsoft Did Not Do

• Microsoft only shut down one project.
• The company still profits from other defense contracts with Israel.
• It still provides “cybersecurity assistance” under the Abraham Accords framework.

In other words, Microsoft took a step, but it is far from ending its role in apartheid.

✅ What You Can Do

1. Keep the Pressure On
   Microsoft moved only because employees and the public forced it to. Join campaigns like No Azure for Apartheid and demand they cut all contracts with Israel’s military.
2. Do Not Trust Big Tech
   If you care about digital privacy, do not rely on companies that are willing to work with apartheid regimes.
3. Protect Yourself Online
   Use BuycatVPN, built by the Boycat community, to stay safe without funding companies tied to surveillance and war.
4. Boycott and Divest
   As we saw with Starbucks, McDonald’s, and Puma, economic boycotts work. This is more proof.

🗣 Final Word

Microsoft’s decision to block some of Israel’s cloud and AI access is a crack in the wall of corporate complicity. It proves that pressure works, but it also shows that the fight is far from over.

Israel’s surveillance state has already shifted to new platforms, and Big Tech is still deeply embedded in the machinery of occupation.

It is up to us to keep boycotting, protesting, and demanding: No tech for apartheid. No cloud for genocide.

Sources:

• The Guardian, “Israel’s Unit 8200 used Microsoft Azure to store a million calls an hour”
• The Verge, “Microsoft blocks Israeli military from cloud and AI services”
• Reuters, “Microsoft disables Israel defense ministry’s access to AI and cloud”
• Windows Central, “Microsoft suspends specific Azure subscriptions tied to IDF”
• i24 News, “IDF backed up data after Guardian revelations”
• +972 Magazine / Local Call, “Inside Israel’s mass surveillance program on Microsoft cloud”