Imagine a tech giant abruptly shutting down access to its data centers because of shocking allegations of mass surveillance. That’s precisely what’s happening as Microsoft has just cut off a unit of the Israeli military that has been under fire for its role in an extensive surveillance operation against Palestinian civilians. According to a report by The Guardian, the company claims Israel's spy agency violated its terms of service.

This surveillance system has been no small feat; it reportedly collected millions of phone calls from Palestinian civilians daily in both Gaza and the West Bank. This treasure trove of data was stored on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, but the tech giant has now made it clear that this practice is no longer acceptable.

In an email to employees, Microsoft’s vice-chair and president, Brad Smith, confirmed the decisive move, stating that the company has “ceased and disabled a set of services” related to a unit within the Israel Ministry of Defense. He further elaborated that this action notably cut off access to essential services like cloud storage and certain AI tools.

“We do not provide technology to facilitate mass surveillance of civilians,” Smith emphasized. “We’ve held this principle in every country worldwide for over two decades.” This strong stance comes after an external inquiry was conducted to review how the Israeli spy agency utilized the Azure platform.

The decision also reflects mounting pressure from both employees and investors who have been urging Microsoft to reassess its relationship with Israel, especially considering the ongoing military offensive in Gaza. Interestingly, it’s reported that this controversial collaboration traces back to 2021, when Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella personally greenlit a storage effort after a meeting with a commander from Israel's elite military surveillance corps, Unit 8200.

During that meeting, Nadella reportedly approved a customized area within the Azure platform for storing these intercepted calls, all without the awareness or consent of the Palestinian populace. Although the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has deep roots, the infrastructure for this surveillance was constructed a full two years before the latest wave of violence escalated on October 7, 2023. The goal was ambitious, aiming for the capacity to record “a million calls an hour.”

Leaked Microsoft documents reveal that a significant chunk of this data was being housed in Azure facilities located in the Netherlands, but there have been reports that Israel attempted to relocate this data after learning about Microsoft’s investigation. According to The Guardian, Unit 8200 is now considering transferring this massive cache of personal data to Amazon Web Services.

As we reach out to Amazon to confirm whether they’ll accept such a vast collection of sensitive information, one thing is clear: Microsoft’s decision to terminate its services demonstrates a significant shift in the conversation around technology, privacy, and ethical responsibility.