Microsoft—Microsoft Azure cloud used by Israel's Unit 8200 for mass surveillance of millions of Palestinians
A joint Guardian/+972 Magazine/Local Call investigation revealed Microsoft provided customized Azure cloud infrastructure to Israel's Unit 8200 intelligence unit for storing recordings of millions of daily Palestinian phone calls. By July 2025, the surveillance system held 11,500 terabytes of military data stored on Azure servers in the Netherlands and Ireland. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella met with Unit 8200's commander in late 2021 to discuss the collaboration. Sources within Unit 8200 said the data was used to research and identify bombing targets in Gaza and to blackmail Palestinians in the West Bank.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authoritarian Compliance | +toward | secondary | -0.50 |
| Surveillance Technology | +toward | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.858 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (critical ×2) × confidence (0.57)
Evidence (1 signal)
Guardian/+972 investigation revealed Microsoft Azure stored 11,500 TB of Israeli intelligence on Palestinian phone calls
A joint investigation by The Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call found Microsoft provided customized Azure infrastructure to Israel's Unit 8200 for mass surveillance since 2022. Microsoft engineers worked with Israeli intelligence to embed security features enabling transfer of up to 70% of Unit 8200's sensitive data. CEO Nadella met with Unit 8200's commander in late 2021. By July 2025, the system stored 11,500 TB of intercepted Palestinian phone data on servers in the Netherlands and Ireland.