The head of Microsoft's Israeli subsidiary is stepping down following an internal inquiry into the company's business dealings with the Israeli military. The inquiry was launched last year after a Guardian investigation revealed that the Israeli military used Microsoft's technology to operate a powerful surveillance system that collected Palestinian civilian phone calls on a mass scale.
Background of the Inquiry
The joint investigation with +972 Magazine and Local Call found that Unit 8200, the military's elite spy agency, used Microsoft's Azure cloud platform to store a vast trove of intercepted calls from Gaza and the West Bank. The inquiry, which recently concluded, prompted the announcement that Alon Haimovich, Microsoft Israel's general manager, would leave the company. According to the Israeli business newspaper Globes, Haimovich's departure follows a major controversy related to violations of Microsoft's code of ethics, and several other managers have also left their positions.
Findings and Actions
Shortly after launching the inquiry, Microsoft determined that Unit 8200 had violated its terms of service, which prohibit the use of its technology to facilitate mass surveillance. Consequently, the company terminated the unit's access to cloud services and AI products used to support the surveillance project. Equipped with Azure's near-limitless storage and computing power, Unit 8200 built an indiscriminate system that allowed intelligence officers to collect, play back, and analyze the content of millions of Palestinian cellular phone calls daily.
Details of the surveillance program's reliance on Azure raised concerns among senior Microsoft executives that some Israel-based employees may not have been fully transparent with headquarters about how Unit 8200 used the company's technology. Sources familiar with the inquiry, which involved lawyers at Covington & Burling, said this was a key area of focus. According to Globes, Haimovich was summoned by the inquiry team after they visited Microsoft Israel's offices near Tel Aviv.
Haimovich's Role
Documents seen by the Guardian suggest Haimovich played a role in developing the relationship between Microsoft Israel and Unit 8200 after a 2021 meeting between Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and the unit's then commander. This included overseeing a partnership to build a segregated area within Azure to store sensitive intelligence material. Once complete, Unit 8200 began moving the expansive archive of everyday Palestinian communications into Microsoft's cloud infrastructure.
Haimovich did not respond to a request for comment. In an email to staff announcing his departure, he said he had positioned Israel as "one of Microsoft's fastest-growing markets worldwide." Microsoft has previously stated that senior executives like Nadella were unaware Unit 8200 was using Azure to store intercepted Palestinian communications. The company's vice-chair and president, Brad Smith, said last year: "We do not provide technology to facilitate mass surveillance of civilians."
