Bill Gates’ Microsoft halts service access to Israeli military, here’s why

Microsoft Founding Partner Bill Gates.

Microsoft announced that the Israeli army has stopped access to some cloud services. The US technology giant said that the decision of an Israeli defense unit used to make mass surveillance in Gaza. This comes after the Guardian newspaper reported that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported that Microsoft’s cloud service Azure was used to store data files of phone calls collected with large -scale supervision of civilians in Gaza and West Bank.

What did Microsoft say in the movement?

In a public message to employees, Microsoft President Brad Smith said: “We found evidence supporting the elements of Guardian’s reporting.” “We do not provide technology to facilitate the mass surveillance of civilians. This does not affect the important work that Microsoft continues to do so to protect cyber security of other countries in Israel and the Middle East,” he added.

How does Israel use Microsoft Services?

According to Guardian, the Israeli army plans to transfer all data from Microsoft servers to Amazon Web Services (AWS). The movement comes as a win for many people who want the company to cut all ties with Israel during the two -year war in Gaza in Microsoft. It has been reported, the use of the Israeli army’s microsoft products increased after Hamas’s attacks in 2023 and the beginning of the Gaza War. Israel uses large amounts of cloud storage and artificial intelligence (AI) for mass surveillance, and also uses data as zero in air strike targets.