Microsoft
Technology giant with $133 million in Israeli Ministry of Defense contracts, making Israel Microsoft's second largest military customer globally. Azure cloud services used by Unit 8200 for mass surveillance of Palestinians.
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No Azure for Apartheid campaign has generated sustained employee protests, multiple firings, and disruptions at major events including the Build conference and 50th anniversary celebrations. UN Special Rapporteur identified Microsoft as part of a 'joint criminal enterprise' abetting genocide in Gaza (June 2025). Investigation exposed Azure's role in mass surveillance of Palestinians.
Israeli Ministry of Defense contracts worth $133+ million, with additional $10 million engineering support during Gaza operations. Employee walkouts, talent attrition, and reputational damage threaten broader enterprise business. ESG-conscious clients reassessing cloud vendor relationships.
International law experts and human rights groups warned Microsoft of 'civil and criminal liability for aiding and abetting, contributing to, or otherwise being complicit in Israel's commission of atrocity crimes' (December 2025). Azure cloud used for mass surveillance found to violate terms of service, leading to partial service termination.
Azure infrastructure enabled Unit 8200 surveillance system storing millions of Palestinian phone calls. Partial service termination to Israeli military (September 2025) demonstrates operational entanglement. CEO Satya Nadella's 2021 meeting with Unit 8200 head exposes corporate decision-making to scrutiny.
Product Alternatives
Ethical replacements tagged by what matters to you: cost, quality, ethics, sustainability, or local sourcing. Make the switch today.
Enterprise Cloud Platforms
Alternative cloud infrastructure providers for enterprises evaluating ESG compliance. Migration requires planning but is achievable.
European cloud provider headquartered in France, subject to EU regulations.
EU data sovereignty, no known Israeli military contracts.
French cloud provider with strong data sovereignty focus.
European infrastructure, privacy-focused.
German cloud and hosting provider with competitive pricing.
German data protection, no military contracts.
Productivity & Office Suites
Alternatives to Microsoft 365 for organisations seeking ethical providers.
Comprehensive productivity suite. Note: Google also has Israeli military contracts through Project Nimbus.
Verify current Israeli contract status - also named in UN report.
Comprehensive business suite including email, docs, and CRM.
India-based, comprehensive feature set, no military contracts.
Open-source, self-hosted productivity and collaboration platform.
Full data sovereignty, open source, EU-based company.
Email Services
Secure email alternatives to Outlook and Exchange.
Swiss encrypted email and productivity suite.
End-to-end encryption, Swiss privacy laws, no government backdoors.
German encrypted email provider.
Open source, German data protection.
Comparison Legend
Strategic Analysis
In-depth assessment of the company's position, vulnerabilities, and recommended approaches for effective engagement.
High severity, lower vulnerability — requires long-term divestment pressure
Learn about our methodology — companies are categorised based on severity (harm potential) vs strategic vulnerability (campaign leverage).
Why do these scores change?
Unlike static boycott lists, our targeting model is dynamic. This company's position on the matrix is re-evaluated continually as we verify new contracts, divestments, or policy changes. Your reporting directly impacts this score.
Microsoft represents one of the most strategically significant targets in the technology sector due to its $133 million+ contracts with the Israeli Ministry of Defense, making the Israeli military Microsoft's second largest military customer globally. The company's Azure cloud infrastructure has been documented as providing the backbone for Unit 8200's mass surveillance system that collected and stored millions of Palestinian phone calls - one of the world's most intrusive surveillance operations over a single population group.
Key Leverage Points
- Employee Activism: The No Azure for Apartheid campaign has generated sustained protests including office occupations, keynote disruptions, and 18 arrests at headquarters. Multiple employees have been fired, creating martyrs for the movement and highlighting corporate suppression of dissent.
- Partial Precedent: Microsoft's September 2025 termination of some services to Unit 8200 - while limited - represents the first known case of a US tech company withdrawing services from the Israeli military during the Gaza conflict, demonstrating pressure campaigns can achieve results.
- Legal Exposure: International law experts have formally warned Microsoft of potential civil and criminal liability for aiding atrocity crimes. The documented mass surveillance, combined with ICJ and ICC determinations, creates significant legal risk.
- Government Procurement Vulnerability: Microsoft's substantial government contracts globally (US, UK, EU, NATO) create leverage points where public procurement policies can be used to pressure the company on ethical grounds.
Documented Complicity
In late 2021, CEO Satya Nadella personally met with Yossi Sariel, then-head of Unit 8200, at Microsoft headquarters in Seattle. This meeting enabled the development of a customised Azure infrastructure capable of storing 'a million calls an hour' - surveillance data on millions of Palestinians that could not fit on military servers alone. The Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call investigation revealed this system has been operational since 2022, with data stored on Microsoft servers in the Netherlands and Ireland.
Beyond surveillance, Microsoft provides comprehensive services to the Israeli military including software, professional services, AI capabilities, and language translation tools. Israeli military usage of Azure rose by over 155% between June 2023 and April 2024, with $10 million in engineering support contracts during Gaza operations. The company also provides services to Israeli Police and Prison Service, institutions documented by human rights organisations as complicit in the detention and abuse of Palestinians.
Engagement Strategy
Target Microsoft through multiple pressure vectors: (1) Support the No Azure for Apartheid worker campaign with external solidarity and amplification; (2) Engage government procurement offices in the UK, EU, and other jurisdictions to review Microsoft contracts on human rights grounds, using the UN Special Rapporteur designation and legal expert warnings as documentation; (3) Pursue shareholder activism through ESG-focused institutional investors, emphasising reputational and legal risks; (4) Press for complete termination of Israeli military contracts, not just the limited Unit 8200 services - emphasising that the 'vast majority' of military contracts remain intact despite the partial win. The September 2025 termination demonstrates the company's vulnerability to sustained pressure and should be framed as proof of concept for broader campaign success.
Recognising Systemic Challenge
Microsoft's products are integrated into the global economy and are often a critical part of the infrastructure of modern life. For many, immediate total boycott may not currently be feasible, least of all product usage in the workplace. This does not grant them immunity. We focus pressure on changing Microsoft's behaviour to comply with International Law.
Your Role: We ask industry professionals and enterprise clients to challenge specific agreements from the inside. Use your status as a stakeholder to demand ethical boundaries. We aren't asking you to delete your account today; we're asking you to help cut their military contracts tomorrow. Join our volunteer network to contribute your expertise.
Evidence & Sources
Verified sources including NGO reports, regulatory filings, and primary documents. Use these to substantiate your correspondence.
Coalition of international law experts and human rights groups warned Microsoft that its provision of cloud technology, AI, and data processing to Israeli military 'opens your company up to civil and criminal liability for aiding and abetting Israel's commission of atrocity crimes.'
Open sourceHuman Rights Watch stated Microsoft 'has taken an important first step' but must investigate all contracts with Israel after finding Israeli authorities carried out ethnic cleansing, war crimes, crimes against humanity including extermination, apartheid, persecution, and acts of genocide.
Open sourceMicrosoft terminated some services to Unit 8200 after investigation revealed mass surveillance. However, a spokesperson noted 'the vast majority of Microsoft's contract with the Israeli military remains intact.'
Open sourceAmnesty welcomed Microsoft's decision to terminate Unit 8200's access to certain services but called for investigation of all contracts, sales and transfers of surveillance, AI and related equipment to Israel.
Open sourcePolice arrested 18 people at worker-led protests at Microsoft headquarters as No Azure for Apartheid campaign demanded company end contracts with Israeli military.
Open sourceJoint investigation by The Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call reveals Unit 8200 used Azure to store millions of Palestinian phone calls. CEO Nadella met with Unit 8200 head in 2021 to enable the project's goal of storing 'a million calls an hour.'
Open sourceUN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese's report 'From economy of occupation to economy of genocide' identifies Microsoft, Amazon and Google as corporations part of a 'joint criminal enterprise' helping Israel carry out what the report calls genocide in Gaza.
Open sourceMicrosoft acknowledged providing the Israel Ministry of Defense with software, professional services, Azure cloud and AI services. Israeli military usage of Azure rose by more than 155% between June 2023 and April 2024.
Open sourceComprehensive BDS Movement profile documenting Microsoft's $133 million contracts with Israeli Ministry of Defense, making Israeli military Microsoft's second largest military customer globally.
Open sourceAmerican Friends Service Committee investigation documenting Microsoft's involvement in providing technology to Israeli military and government, including cloud infrastructure and AI services.
Open sourceUpdates & Milestones
- International Law Experts Issue Legal Warning
Coalition of international law experts and human rights groups sends letter to Nadella and Smith warning of 'civil and criminal liability for aiding and abetting Israel's commission of atrocity crimes.'
- No Azure for Apartheid Claims 'Unprecedented Win'
Fired Microsoft employee calls partial termination an 'unprecedented win' but notes 'Microsoft has only disabled a small subset of services to only one unit in the Israeli military.'
- Partial Service Termination to Unit 8200
Brad Smith announces Microsoft has 'ceased and disabled a set of services' to Unit 8200 within Israeli Ministry of Defense after review found mass surveillance violated terms of service. Vast majority of military contracts remain intact.
- 18 Arrested at Headquarters Protests
Police arrest 18 people at worker-led protests at Microsoft headquarters. Four employees fired for protest activities including sit-in at Brad Smith's office.
- Mass Surveillance Exposed
Joint investigation by The Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call exposes how Unit 8200 used Azure to store millions of Palestinian phone calls, building one of the world's largest surveillance systems over a single population.
- UN Report Names Microsoft in 'Joint Criminal Enterprise'
UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese's report 'From economy of occupation to economy of genocide' identifies Microsoft among 48 corporations participating in a 'joint criminal enterprise' enabling genocide in Gaza.
- Employee Disrupts CEO Keynote at Build Conference
Software engineer shouts over Satya Nadella's keynote: 'How about you show how Microsoft is killing Palestinians? How about you show how Israeli war crimes are powered by Azure?' Employee subsequently fired.
- No Azure for Apartheid Campaign Escalates
Current and former Microsoft employees affiliated with No Azure for Apartheid begin protests inside Microsoft campus buildings in Redmond, gaining entry to Brad Smith's office.
- Five Employees Ejected from CEO Meeting
Five Microsoft employees removed from meeting with CEO Satya Nadella for protesting contracts providing AI and cloud services to Israeli military.
- Israel Police Contract
Microsoft Israel contracted by Israel Police as sole supplier to provide Premier expert services and maintenance until December 2026 for NIS 3.6 million.
- Two Employees Fired After Vigil
Microsoft fires two employees for holding a vigil for Palestinian refugees at company headquarters in Redmond.
- Azure Usage Spikes 155%
Israeli military's usage of Microsoft Azure cloud services rises dramatically following attacks on Gaza, with $10 million in engineering support contracts signed through June 2024.
- Unit 8200 Surveillance System Goes Live
Mass surveillance tool built by Unit 8200 using Azure becomes operational, collecting and storing recordings of millions of daily phone calls from Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
- Elbit Systems OneSim Contract on Azure
Elbit Systems announces $107 million military simulation software OneSim will run on Microsoft Azure, used in advanced IDF training centers for tank crew 'battle scenarios.'
- CEO Meets with Unit 8200 Head
Satya Nadella meets with Yossi Sariel, head of Israel's military spy agency Unit 8200, at Microsoft headquarters in Seattle to discuss Azure collaboration for storing large volumes of 'sensitive' Israeli intelligence.
- $133 Million Israeli Ministry of Defense Contract
Microsoft signs three-year contract with Israeli Ministry of Defense, making the Israeli military Microsoft's second largest military customer globally after the US military.