A group of current and former Microsoft workers occupied the office of Microsoft’s President Brad Smith on Tuesday to protest Microsoft’s work with the Israeli military in Gaza. The tech workers accused Microsoft of “powering the genocide in Gaza and the mass surveillance of Palestinians.” Seven protesters were arrested. This comes as Bloomberg reports Microsoft has asked the FBI for help tracking pro-Palestinian protests targeting the company.
Microsoft was one of several companies identified by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories
From Economy of Occupation To Economy of Genocide
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967
Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon grant Israel virtually government-wide access to their cloud and AI technologies, enhancing data processing, decision-making and surveillance/analysis capacities. In October 2023, when Israel’s internal military cloud overloaded Microsoft Azure and Project Nimbus Consortium stepped in with critical cloud and AI infrastructure. Their Israel-located servers ensure data sovereignty and a shield from accountability, under favourable contracts offering minimal restrictions or oversight. In July 2024, an Israeli colonel described cloud tech as “a weapon in every sense of the word”, citing these companies.
The Israeli military has developed AI systems like “Lavender”, “Gospel” and “Where’s Daddy?” to process data and generate lists of targets, reshaping modern warfare and illustrating AI’s dual-use nature.
These AI systems have been used to target and kill entire families based on AI driven surveillance.
Human Rights Watch reported that US armed forces can be found liable for actions that aid Israeli war crimes.
Gaza: US Forces Can Be Liable for Assisting Israeli War Crimes
US Arms Transfers to Israel Are Internationally Wrongful Acts
Direct participation by US forces in military operations in Gaza since October 2023, including by providing intelligence for Israeli strikes and conducting extensive coordination and planning, has made the United States a party to the conflict between Israel and Palestinian armed groups. As a warring party, US forces could be jointly responsible for participating in laws-of-war violations by Israeli forces, and US personnel implicated could be held individually responsible for war crimes.
Corporations deeply enmeshed in Israel could find themselves responsible for war crimes as well.
Separately, Norway’s Sovereign Wealth Fund has divested from Caterpillar.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund will exclude U.S. machinery manufacturer Caterpillar and five Israeli banks from its equity portfolio over what it called an “unacceptable risk” that the firms contribute to rights violations.
The ethics committee for Norges Bank Investment Management found that the former produced bulldozers that were being used in the “unlawful destruction of Palestinian property,” while the banks had provided financial services necessary for the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Rachel Corrie, the American peace activist, was killed by an Israeli Caterpillar D9 bulldozer in 2003. These bulldozers have been used by Israel to destroy Palestinian homes, and evidence of war crimes for many decades.
Israel’s army used these bulldozers to bury 15 medical workers they’d killed along with their ambulance earlier this year.
By: Sadie Thompson
Source: Daily Kos
