Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its tech in mass surveillance of Palestinians • Hacker News Board

Re: Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its tech in mass surveillance of Palestinians

#691

Post by zawaideh » Thu, Sep 25, 2025, 9:51 PM UTC

davidjeet wrote: post #448

zawaideh wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a genocide. They are targeting civilians.

Proof? Or just what is convenient for you to believe? If anything, quite the opposite. Think about this logically - why the need for expensive surveillance if your chief goal was to annihilate a population?

For those looking for direct sources on the findings of genocide in Gaza, here are several key reports and legal conclusions from human rights organizations, international courts, and genocide scholars:

1. UN Commission of Inquiry: Concluded that Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip. * Report: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/israel-has-c... * Press Conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trUcK8hHaIA

2. Amnesty International: Concluded that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. * Statement: https://www.amnesty.org/en/petition/end-israels-genocide-aga...

3. B'Tselem (The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories): Published their conclusion that Israel is committing genocide. * Report ("Our Genocide"): https://www.btselem.org/publications/202507_our_genocide

4. International Court of Justice (ICJ): Ruled in January 2024 that it is plausible Israel's acts could violate the Genocide Convention. * Case Details: https://www.icj-cij.org/case/192

5. Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention: Issued an "Active Genocide Alert" in October 2023, warning of the high risk of genocide. * Alert: https://www.lemkininstitute.com/active-genocide-alert-1/acti...

Beyond these formal reports, it's crucial to acknowledge that this has been one of the most documented atrocities in history, often livestreamed by Palestinians on the ground. Their testimonies have been consistent from the beginning, yet they are frequently dismissed until a non-Palestinian, "human" source validates their lived experience.

Re: Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its tech in mass surveillance of Palestinians

#692

Post by Sporktacular » Thu, Sep 25, 2025, 9:51 PM UTC

bArray wrote: post #97

The issue that people have with Israel's actions is the death of civilians, not the death of Hamas, the widely recognised terrorist. I believe it also to be true that the IDF do not want to kill civilians, and that their target is only Hamas. In which case, is it prudent to remove the IDF's ability to successfully target the correct people? Precise military intelligence is absolutely necessary for minimising civilian…

Reading the article you'll see that much of the surveillance is against the West Bank population, which has nothing to do with Hamas or Oct 7.

Israel has been very effective at blurring that distinction, using that attack from Gaza as the pretext to accelerate land theft in the West Bank.

Re: Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its tech in mass surveillance of Palestinians

#693

Post by t_mahmood » Thu, Sep 25, 2025, 9:55 PM UTC

fsckboy wrote: post #676

t_mahmood wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, MS reviewed previously, and said they've seen nothing wrong, now they are saying some employees (coincidentally, Israeli) might have not been all transparent ... > The disclosures caused alarm among senior Microsoft executives, sparking concerns that some of its Israel-based employees may not have been fully transparent about their knowledge of how Unit 8200 used Azure when questioned as part of the review. You…

> It's all evil entities feeding each other, for their own benefit. let's please hear your complete list of evil entities, just curious who else it includes. you can go out in concentric circles from israel, or just start with the most evil worldwide and go till you get to israel and microsoft.

Thanks, but no, thanks.

If you can give me a counter, why these actions are not evil, I'm all ear.

Re: Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its tech in mass surveillance of Palestinians

#694

Post by zawaideh » Thu, Sep 25, 2025, 9:56 PM UTC

Every single one of these companies that have enabled the genocide should be help accountable. Maybe some are trying to claim plausible deniability.

--

For those looking for direct sources on the findings of genocide in Gaza, here are several key reports and legal conclusions from human rights organizations, international courts, and genocide scholars:

1. UN Commission of Inquiry: Concluded that Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip. * Report: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/israel-has-c... * Press Conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trUcK8hHaIA

2. Amnesty International: Concluded that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. * Statement: https://www.amnesty.org/en/petition/end-israels-genocide-aga...

3. B'Tselem (The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories): Published their conclusion that Israel is committing genocide. * Report ("Our Genocide"): https://www.btselem.org/publications/202507_our_genocide

4. International Court of Justice (ICJ): Ruled in January 2024 that it is plausible Israel's acts could violate the Genocide Convention. * Case Details: https://www.icj-cij.org/case/192

5. Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention: Issued an "Active Genocide Alert" in October 2023, warning of the high risk of genocide. * Alert: https://www.lemkininstitute.com/active-genocide-alert-1/acti...

Beyond these formal reports, it's crucial to acknowledge that this has been one of the most documented atrocities in history, often livestreamed by Palestinians on the ground. Their testimonies have been consistent from the beginning, yet they are frequently dismissed until a non-Palestinian, "human" source validates their lived experience.

Re: Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its tech in mass surveillance of Palestinians

#695

Post by Sporktacular » Thu, Sep 25, 2025, 9:57 PM UTC

davidjeet wrote: post #448

zawaideh wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a genocide. They are targeting civilians.

Proof? Or just what is convenient for you to believe? If anything, quite the opposite. Think about this logically - why the need for expensive surveillance if your chief goal was to annihilate a population?

Genocide is not the same as extermination. The goal of expulsion is to obtain land. Surveillance programs facilitate ethnic cleansing by countering resistance.

Re: Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its tech in mass surveillance of Palestinians

#696

Post by hashim » Thu, Sep 25, 2025, 9:59 PM UTC

dotancohen wrote: post #685

hashim wrote: post #673

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, the Palestinian narrative for those of us actually knowledgeable of history has not changed since 1948. As for Israel being consistent - how are those hostages doing? Cause it definitely doesn't care about any of them now (those it hasn't killed itself), and Netanyahu and others in the cabinet have admitted they want to occupy the land once more. I'm not American, but you must be if you think racism magically sto…

You're right - such association with colour is not limited to Americans. I almost forgot being told about the slaves in the Gaza strip. It turns out that Gazans call black-skinned Gazans "slaves". I've met black-skinned Bedouins but not black-skinned Gazans, and I don't know if the black-skinned Gazans are also Bedouins. I actually didn't know the word for slave in Arabic, but it was similar enough to the word in Heb…

I'm sure the Gazan friends you spoke to will be overjoyed you had face-to-face conversations with them before going online to advocate for their genocide, and that those conversations you had make them clearly savage enough to justify said genocide.

Are you really so wrapped up in your tech bubble in Tel Aviv that you can believe that? Here's some reading on a story even I knew off from the top of my head: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/28/ethiopian-wome.... And here's the rest of it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_Israel. Israel is easily the most racist "Western" country in the world, ahead of even the modern US. Hmm, maybe a genocide against Israelis would actually be justified because Israelis are just racist savages that think black people should be forcibly sterilised against their will?

Re: Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its tech in mass surveillance of Palestinians

#697

Post by lupusreal » Thu, Sep 25, 2025, 10:01 PM UTC

hersko wrote: post #306

paxys wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Do you think Israelis are only from Europe? Seriously?

They are predominantly so. Ashkenazi Jews are from Eastern Europe. Sephardic Jews are from Spain. Zionism as a movement was started in Europe by Europeans. Israel is a European colony state.

Re: Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its tech in mass surveillance of Palestinians

#698

Post by ycombigators » Thu, Sep 25, 2025, 10:03 PM UTC

tick_tock_tick wrote: post #523

dark_mode wrote: post #235

> The decision has not affected Microsoft’s wider commercial relationship with the IDF, which is a longstanding client and will retain access to other services. The termination will raise questions within Israel about the policy of holding sensitive military data in a third-party cloud hosted overseas. It's worth noting that even after finding out the "most moral" army is conducting mass surveillance, they're still h…

Doesn't every army conduct "mass surveillance"? What do you think all those satellites with cameras are doing orbiting the planet? Wouldn't the opposite be incredibly immoral? Attacking/bombing/etc without large scale surveillance would largely mean increased collateral damage.

It would be pretty difficult for the IDF to increase their level of collateral damage.

Re: Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its tech in mass surveillance of Palestinians

#699

Post by lupusreal » Thu, Sep 25, 2025, 10:05 PM UTC

SilverElfin wrote: post #675

basilgohar wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was never a country called Israel until 1948. It was always Palestine. The idea of a nation called Israel is the invention of Zionists in the 19th and 20th century.

Ancient Israelites existed approximately 2000 years before your incorrect claimed timeline. Today’s Jews are descendants of Israelites. It is also trivially simply to disprove “It was always Palestine”. It was made up by Romans. Again, much later than when Jewish people lived there.

Today's Israel has absolutely nothing to do with ancient Israel. They took on the name as propaganda, a cynically constructed state origin myth.

Re: Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its tech in mass surveillance of Palestinians

#700

Post by Sporktacular » Thu, Sep 25, 2025, 10:05 PM UTC

basilgohar wrote: post #585

ars wrote: post #530

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't know what you're making or misrepresenting in your statememt about Jordan and Jerusalem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordanian_annexation_of_the_We... "The Jordanians immediately expelled all the Jewish residents of East Jerusalem.[54] Mark Tessler cites John Oesterreicher as writing that during Jordanian rule, "34 out of the Old City's 35 synagogues were dynamited. Some were turned into stables, others in…

This is completely in the context of the formation of Israel in 1948. Also, you are lying about "endless massacres of Jews by Muslims". This is not, has never been, and continues to not be, true whatsoever. Arabs and Muslims didn't even have antisemitism before Zionism existed. You can only look to times after Zionism with its supremeist ideology to find hostility from Arabs and Muslims specifically targeting Jews fo…

I'm as against the genocide as you can be, but what you are saying is historically completely inaccurate. Discrimination against Jews is old, older than Israel or Zionism. The arguments against the land theft and genocide are strong enough without the hyperbole.