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For Immediate Release
September, 25 2025, 02:30pm EDT
Contact:
CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper,Phone: 202-744-7726,E-Mail:,ihooper@cair.com
CAIR, CAIR-WA Welcome Microsoft Disabling Services Used by Israeli Forces to Spy on Civilians in Gaza Genocide
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, and its Washington chapter (CAIR-WA) today welcomed a decision by Microsoft to disable services used by units of the Israeli military to spy on civilians in Gaza during its ongoing genocide.
Microsoft said it disabled a set of cloud and AI services used by a unit within the Israel Ministry of Defense after an internal review found preliminary evidence supporting media reports of a surveillance system in Gaza and the West Bank. A joint investigation published in early August by the Guardian, Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and Hebrew-language outlet Local Call reported that an Israeli military surveillance agency used Microsoft’s Azure to store large volumes of mobile phone call recordings from Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza.
SEE: Microsoft disables services to Israel defense unit after review | Reuters
In a statement, CAIR-WA Executive Director Imraan Siddiqi said:
“This is a welcome step and a point of vindication for those brave tech workers who stood up and protested. However, Microsoft and all tech companies must completely divest from their activities supporting the ongoing genocide of Palestinians and ensure that their employees who speak up against human rights abuses are protected.”
CAIR National Deputy Executive Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said:
“No American corporation should be providing resources to a genocidal government, let alone resources that directly aid in their criminal endeavors. We welcome this decision by Microsoft and urge them and all American companies to fully cut ties with the genocidal Israeli government.”
Sabrene Odeh, CAIR-WA Community Legal Advocate said: “Though a step in the right direction, this is not enough to end Microsoft’s complicity in the genocide perpetrated by Israel. Tech workers, across the board, have been sounding the alarm for two years with serious concerns over how technology is being used against civilians. If Microsoft is ready to end its complicity, it must listen to the brave tech workers in its base—who have been discriminated against, let go, and even quit their jobs because they no longer can be accomplices to the crimes Israel is committing—and end all ties with Israel.”
CAIR previously hosted a news conference by No Azure for Apartheid (NOAA) at which fired Microsoft workers, No Azure for Apartheid organizers, and community members spoke about the arrests and firings that resulted from their participation in a sit-in at the office of Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, in which they demanded Microsoft cut its ties with Israel’s apartheid and genocide.
CAIR also previously called on Microsoft to deny Israel the use of its servers to store data reportedly used to carry out its genocide in Gaza.
SEE: CAIR-WA, CAIR Call on Microsoft to Deny Israel Use of Servers for Gaza Genocide
CAIR also previously condemned Microsoft for their apparent censorship of the word “Palestine” from company emails.
SEE: CAIR-WA Condemns Microsoft’s Censoring of the Word ‘Palestine’
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is a grassroots civil rights and advocacy group. CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
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After Anti-Genocide Protests, Microsoft Cuts Israeli Military Off From Cloud Services
"Though a step in the right direction," said one legal advocate, "this is not enough to end Microsoft's complicity in the genocide perpetrated by Israel."
Sep 25, 2025
After multiple exposés and international protests about Microsoft's "genocidal collaboration" with the Israel Defense Forces, the tech giant told employees on Thursday that it cut the IDF off from certain cloud storage and artificial intelligence technology.
Microsoft launched a review last month, after The Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call reported that the IDF's Unit 8200 was using the cloud platform Azure to store data from "millions of mobile phone calls made each day by Palestinians" in the illegally occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, where Israeli forces have killed at least tens of thousands of people over the past two years.
"We have reviewed The Guardian's allegations based on two principles, both grounded in Microsoft's longstanding protection of privacy as a fundamental right," Brad Smith, the company's vice chair and president, wrote to employees. "First, we do not provide technology to facilitate mass surveillance of civilians... Second, we respect and protect the privacy rights of our customers."
"While our review is ongoing, we have found evidence that supports elements of The Guardian's reporting," he continued. Thus, Microsoft has informed Israel's Ministry of Defense (IMOD) of its "decision to cease and disable specified IMOD subscriptions and their services, including their use of specific cloud storage and AI services and technologies."
"I want to note our appreciation for the reporting of The Guardian," he added. "I'll share more information in the coming days and weeks, when it's appropriate to do so, including lessons learned from this review and how we will apply those lessons as we go forward."
Shoutout to the Microsoft worker organizers who have been tirelessly (and often at the cost of their jobs) pushing Microsoft- not nearly enough but just another brick to crumble
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— Molly Shah (@mommunism.bsky.social) September 25, 2025 at 11:31 AM
The newspaper reported Thursday that, according to a document it obtained, a senior Microsoft executive similarly told IMOD late last week that the company "is not in the business of facilitating the mass surveillance of civilians" and "while our review is ongoing, we have at this juncture identified evidence that supports elements of The Guardian's reporting."
As The Guardian noted:
The termination is the first known case of a US technology company withdrawing services provided to the Israeli military since the beginning of its war on Gaza.
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 outlets involved in the August 6 reporting—and others, including The Associated Press and Drop Site News—have reported on Microsoft's relationship with the Israeli military throughout the year.
Drop Site's Ryan Grim highlighted that the company's decision is "a major victory for dissident Microsoft workers, who have been protesting intensely internally."
Microsoft employees have protested the company's ties to Israel since even before this year's reporting. For example, the "No Azure for Apartheid" petition was written by workers and shared internally in May 2024, to mark the 76th year of the Nakba—which means catastrophe in Arabic and is used to describe the ethnic cleansing of Palestine to establish the modern state of Israel.
Last month, seven current and former Microsoft workers were arrested after occupying Smith's office in Redmond, Washington, to protest the company's complicity in "the first AI-powered genocide." According to No Azure for Apartheid, the company has fired five employees following protests at its headquarters.
There have also been actions by critics outside Microsoft, including an August demonstration at a data center in the Netherlands.
Sabrene Odeh, community legal advocate at the Washington state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relation (CAIR-WA), said in a Thursday statement that "though a step in the right direction, this is not enough to end Microsoft's complicity in the genocide perpetrated by Israel. Tech workers, across the board, have been sounding the alarm for two years with serious concerns over how technology is being used against civilians."
"If Microsoft is ready to end its complicity," Odeh continued, "it must listen to the brave tech workers in its base—who have been discriminated against, let go, and even quit their jobs because they no longer can be accomplices to the crimes Israel is committing—and end all ties with Israel."
CAIR-WA executive director Imraan Siddiqi stressed that it's not just Microsoft, arguing that "all tech companies must completely divest from their activities supporting the ongoing genocide of Palestinians and ensure that their employees who speak up against human rights abuses are protected."
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'Drop in the Bucket': Lina Khan Rips Trump FTC for Giving Amazon a Wrist-Slap Settlement
The Federal Trade Commission's decision to settle with Amazon would be "a big relief for the executives who knowingly harmed their customers," added Khan.
Sep 25, 2025
The Federal Trade Commission announced on Thursday it had reached a settlement with Amazon over allegations that the online retailer had tricked consumers into subscribing to its Prime service—but the woman who led the FTC under former President Joe Biden was not impressed.
According to the FTC, Amazon has agreed to pay $2.5 billion to settle claims that it deceived customers into subscribing to Prime and then deliberately made it difficult for them to cancel. In all, Amazon will pay a $1 billion civil penalty, as well as $1.5 billion in refunds to consumers who unwittingly subscribed to Prime.
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson framed the settlement as a victory for the Trump administration and touted the deal as "a record-breaking, monumental win for the millions of Americans who are tired of deceptive subscriptions that feel impossible to cancel." Ferguson also said the settlement would ensure "Amazon never does this again."
Amazon, for its part, said in a statement that it didn't break any laws despite agreeing to pay out billions.
"Amazon and our executives have always followed the law and this settlement allows us to move forward and focus on innovating for customers," the company said. "We work incredibly hard to make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up or cancel their Prime membership, and to offer substantial value for our many millions of loyal Prime members around the world."
However, former FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan accused the agency of letting Amazon off easy, while describing the $2.5 billion settlement as a "drop in the bucket" for the tech giant.
"In 2023, we sued Amazon and several top executives for tricking people into Prime subscriptions and then making it absurdly difficult to cancel," she explained in a post on X. "This week marked the start of a historic jury trial, where American citizens would hear details of Amazon’s business practices and determine if it had broken the law. A couple of days into trial, FTC announces it has settled all charges, rescuing Amazon from likely being found liable for having violated the law and allowing it to pay its way out."
Khan added that the settlement was "no doubt, a big relief for the executives who knowingly harmed their customers."
Amazon currently has a market cap of over $2.3 trillion, meaning the $2.5 billion settlement represents a little more than one-tenth of 1% of its total worth. Its billionaire founder, Jeff Bezos, is among the richest people on Earth, with an estimated net worth of nearly $240 billion.
Matthew Stoller, an antitrust advocate and researcher at the American Economic Liberties Project, faulted the FTC for letting Amazon settle without any admission of wrongdoing.
"A judge already ruled in summary judgment they violated the law," Stoller observed.
Amazon may not be completely out of the woods legally, however.
As NPR noted on Thursday, Amazon "still faces another, bigger federal lawsuit, in which the FTC has accused the company of functioning as a monopoly." That trial is currently projected to begin in early 2027, NPR added.
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‘People… Have No Idea What It Means’: Hegseth Raises Alarm With ‘Weird’ Military Meeting in Virginia
"This is either a meeting that could have been an email," said one observer, "or something ominous."
Sep 25, 2025
"Nothing good is likely coming out of this," said one Democratic political scientist on Thursday regarding reports that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has called a meeting of hundreds of top military general and admirals in Quantico, Virginia next Tuesday.
The highly unusual summit was announced on short notice and no reason was given to military commanders and other leaders stationed in conflict zones, across Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region who are being required to leave their posts for the meeting.
The order applies to "all senior officers with the rank of brigadier general or above," The Washington Post reported. There are roughly 800 generals and admirals in the US military.
"You don’t call [general officers and flag officers] leading their people and the global force into an auditorium outside DC and not tell them why/what the topic or agenda is,” one person familiar with the matter told the Post.
Some sources told the newspaper that the order raises security concerns.
“Are we taking every general and flag officer out of the Pacific right now?” one person said. “All of it is weird.”
The directive comes months after Hegseth fired about 100 generals and admirals and a month after he dismissed top leaders of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Navy Reserve, and the Naval Special Warfare Command, without giving the officials reasons for their firing.
The DIA had found a few months earlier that Iran's nuclear program had not been significantly damaged by US strikes, contradicting President Donald Trump's claims.
The Pentagon has said there will likely be another 10% reduction of generals and admirals, and political consultant Joel Montfort noted that the right-wing policy blueprint Project 2025 "details a plan to remove senior leaders and consolidate power to loyalists" at the Department of Defense, which Hegseth has claimed is now called the Department of War.
“Are we taking every general and flag officer out of the Pacific right now? All of it is weird.”
“People are very concerned," one official told the Post regarding the meeting. "They have no idea what it means."
The Intercept reported that military sources it spoke to "speculated about the purpose, wondering if it might foretell a culling of general officers; a significant reorganization of the military command structure; a threat to eschew contact with the press; or a loyalty oath about putting Trump administration priorities above all else."
"One source, somewhat in jest, evoked the phrase 'coup d’état,' later clarifying they meant a gutting of leaders who might question Trump’s policies," reported the outlet.
Some other officials familiar with the matter told the Post that they believed the Trump administration's desire to make "homeland defense the nation's top concern," rather than China, was likely to be discussed at the meeting.
The order also came a day after the Office of Management and Budget threatened a new round of mass firings at federal agencies unless Democrats in Congress agree to a funding bill to keep the government running before the October 1 deadline.
"This is either a meeting that could have been an email," said Matt Gertz of Media Matters for America, "or something ominous."
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