Microsoft cuts some of the services used by the Israeli military unit
Microsoft cut some services to a unit from the Israeli Ministry of Defense after the investigation found that its technology was used to conduct collective monitoring on people in Gaza.
Brad Smith, the company’s president, said that the use of the company’s technology to make collective monitoring of civilians was a violation of the usual conditions of service.
Mr. Smith said that the decision, which was paid by the investigation published by the trustee, will not affect the other work that the company is doing with Israel.
Microsoft’s work with the Israeli government was a controversial issue, including within the company, which prompted the protests by employees.
“I know many of you care about this topic,” Mr. Smith wrote in A message to the employees It was published by the company on Thursday.
He stressed that the review was continuing: “I will share more information in the coming days and weeks, when it is appropriate to do so.”
The investigation conducted by the Guardian last month, which collaborated with the Israeli -Palestinian publication +972 magazine and local calls in the Hebrew language, found that a unit from the Israeli Ministry of Defense uses the expanded storage capacity of the cloud service in Microsoft, Azure, to create a giant giant of calls conducted by the regular bazin that interrupts it.
The ability to collect communications, employment and analysis of communications with this offer helped to form military operations in Gaza and the West Bank, according to their investigation.
Microsoft, who responded to the protests from employees because of her work for Israel by launching some employees, said she launched her own review in response to the article.
The company said that it does not reach the content of its customers as part of this review, but it has found other evidence to support the elements of the article, including consuming the storage capacity in the Netherlands and using artificial intelligence services.
The Israeli Ministry of Defense later informed that it was “stopping and disrupting” some “subscriptions” and their services, including using it to store a specific cloud and artificial intelligence services, “according to Mr. Smith.
“We reviewed this decision with IMOD and the steps we make to ensure compliance with our service conditions, I focused on ensuring that our services for collective monitoring of civilians are not used,” Mr. Smith wrote.
The Guardian newspaper reported that the unit concerned is planning to transfer its data to a cloud platform sold by Amazon. Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.
Earlier this year, the United Nations expert called on dozens of multinationals to stop doing business with Israel, and warned them that they had risked cooperation in the war crimes in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Microsoft was among those who were named in the Francesca Albaniz report, which was submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Companies such as Amazon and Alphabet were also named, which like Microsoft faced internal pressure on this problem from some employees.