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the netherlands
Protesters Target Dutch Microsoft Data Center for 'Genocidal Collaboration' With IDF
"Microsoft stores thousands of terabytes of surveillance data from the Israeli intelligence service Unit 8200—data that is used to oppress, imprison, and murder innocent Palestinians."
Aug 11, 2025
Protesters staged a demonstration Sunday at a Microsoft data center in the Netherlands following last week's revelation that the facility is being used by the Israel Defense Forces to plan genocidal airstrikes in Gaza and to store massive amounts of intelligence on Palestinians in the illegally occupied territories.
Members of the direct action group Geef Tegengas (Push Back) led the demonstration at Microsoft's data center near the northwestern city of Middenmeer. Some activists scaled the roof of a building and lit flares, while others locked themselves to poles and blocked an entrance to the facility.
On its Instagram page, Geef Tegengas said it was targeting "genocide in our backyard."
"Microsoft stores thousands of terabytes of surveillance data from the Israeli intelligence service Unit 8200—data that is used to oppress, imprison, and murder innocent Palestinians," the group said. "Thanks to its Azure cloud service, Microsoft plays a direct role in the genocide of the people of Gaza."
Geef Tegengas demanded that Microsoft "remove all Israeli intelligence data" and urged employees at the facility to "lay down your work."
The group also called on people to boycott Microsoft and support the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel.
"We will continue to take action until this genocidal collaboration stops," Geef Tegengas vowed.
Sunday's demonstration followed the publication last week of a joint investigation by The Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call revealing that Unit 8200, the largest unit in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), is storing 11,500 terabytes of data containing roughly 200 million hours of Palestinians' phone call recordings on the Azure servers in the Netherlands.
According to the investigation—which involved interviews with 11 Microsoft and Israeli intelligence sources and a cache of leaked company documents—former Unit 8200 head Yossi Sariel traveled to Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington in the United States in 2021 to meet CEO Satya Nadella.
Sniffing a lucrative opportunity, Nadella agreed to grant the cyberwarfare unit access to a special area of the Azure cloud platform. The project's goal was storing "a million calls per hour."
An intelligence source said that some of the Microsoft employees involved in the undertaking were Unit 8200 veterans, making collaboration "much easier."
One leaked Microsoft document showed that company leaders embraced the IDF partnership as "an incredibly powerful brand moment."
Microsoft responded to the investigation by claiming that Nadella was unaware of exactly what kind of data Unit 8200 was storing on the company's servers.
Three Unit 8200 sources told The Guardian that Azure has facilitated IDF airstrikes on Gaza, where 674 days of U.S.-backed IDF bombing, invasion, and siege have left at least 229,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing amid a worsening famine and the specter of ethnic cleansing and full Israeli occupation.
Israel's conduct in the war is the subject of an ongoing genocide case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. The International Criminal Court, also located in the Dutch city, last year issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza.
Microsoft said Monday that it has launched an investigation into how Unit 8200 is using Azure. This, after the company said in May that an internal review "found no evidence to date that Microsoft's Azure and [artificial intelligence] technologies have been used to target or harm people in the conflict in Gaza."
A Microsoft spokesperson said Monday that the company "takes these allegations seriously, as shown by our previous independent investigation."
"As we receive new information, we're committed to making sure we have a chance to validate any new data and take any needed action," the spokesperson added.
The Guardian reported Monday that the news outlets' investigation prompted debate last week in the Staten-Generaal, the Dutch Parliament, where Christine Teunissen of the left-wing Party for the Animals pressed the government on what it is doing to prevent data stored in the Netherlands from "being used to commit genocide" in Gaza.
Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp replied that he would "request further investigation."
"If there are serious indications of criminal offenses in that information, legal proceedings can of course be initiated, and that is then up to the public prosecution service," he said.
The Guardian/+972 Magazine/Local Call investigation follows last month's revelation by the latter two outlets that the IDF has undertaken a "dramatic increase in the purchase of services from Google Cloud, Amazon's AWS, and Microsoft Azure."
Big Tech's profiteering from Israel's annihilation of Gaza and occupation, settler colonization, and apartheid in the West Bank has sparked numerous protests, including by employees of complicit companies. At least dozens of workers at companies including Google, Meta, and Microsoft have been fired for Palestine advocacy. Others have resigned in protest.
Hossam Nasr, a former Microsoft software engineer, was fired after organizing an October 2024 "No Azure for Apartheid" vigil for Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.
Nasr told The Guardian after his termination that he was fired "simply because we were daring to humanize Palestinians, and simply because we were daring to say that Microsoft should not be complicit with an army that is plausibly accused of genocide."
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Dutch Court Blocks Weapons Parts for Israel Over 'Undeniable' Risk to Gaza
While the Dutch government plans to appeal, one campaigner expressed hope that the verdict "can encourage other countries to follow suit, so that civilians in Gaza are protected by international law."
Feb 12, 2024
With over 28,000 Palestinians killed by Israel so far in the Gaza Strip, a Dutch appeals court ruled Monday that the Netherlands must stop exporting parts for Israeli forces' aircraft due to the "clear risk that Israel's F-35 fighter jets might be used in the commission of serious violations of international humanitarian law."
Oxfam Novib executive director Michiel Servaes, whose group filed the lawsuit against the Dutch government in December with PAX and the Rights Forum,
declared that "this positive ruling by the judge is very good news, especially for civilians in Gaza."
"It is an important step to force the Dutch government to adhere to international law, which the Netherlands has strongly advocated for in the past," he added. "Israel has just launched an attack against the city of Rafah, where more than half of Gaza's population are sheltering, the Netherlands must take immediate steps."
Monday's decision on the U.S.-made jet parts stored in a Dutch warehouse followed a lower court declining to intervene in December.
The new ruling came as Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was in Jerusalem to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is waging war in retaliation for the October 7 attack led by Hamas, which has governed Gaza for nearly two decades.
"It is a pity that this legal action was necessary and, unfortunately, has taken four months to come to this conclusion," said Servaes. "The judge had ruled that the Dutch Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation was obliged to reexamine the arms export license to Israel, and that his decision was taken incorrectly."
While the appeals court ordered compliance within a week, the Dutch government plans to appeal to the Supreme Court. According to Reuters:
"The delivery of U.S. F-35 parts to Israel in our view is not unjustified," Trade Minister Geoffrey van Leeuwen said.
He said the F-35s were crucial for Israel's security and its ability to protect itself from threats in the region, "for example from Iran, Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon".
Van Leeuwen said it was too early to say what effect the verdict would have on Israel.
"We are part of a big consortium of countries that are also working together with Israel, we will talk to partners how to deal with this."
Human Rights Watch (HRW) Israel and Palestine director, Omar Shakir called out the Netherlands for "shamefully" seeking to continue its military support for Israeli forces.
Supporters of the Dutch ruling also highlighted that other countries, particularly the United States, have enabled the Netanyahu government, which claims to be targeting Hamas but has slaughtered thousands of civilians—including more than 12,300 children—leading to accusations of genocide from around the world.
Kenneth Roth, former HRW who is now a visiting professor at Princeton University, said on social media that it was "about time" for the Dutch decision. He added that the "undeniable" risk of exports being used for war crimes determined by the Dutch court "is equally true for parts sent by other nations."
Explaining the potential limitations of the Dutch ruling, Gareth Jennings, aviation editor at the defense intelligence firm Janes, told The New York Times that "if one supplier isn't able to deliver for any reason, the parts can be sourced from another."
Therefore, the decision seems to be "a symbolic act rather than one having any meaningful effect on Israel’s F-35 fleet," he said.
However, Oxfam's Servaes stressed that "we hope that this verdict can encourage other countries to follow suit, so that civilians in Gaza are protected by international law."
Appearing on Democracy Now! Monday, Palestinian American human rights attorney and Rutgers University associate professor Noura Erakat noted that both the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and a U.S. federal judge have found that Israel is "plausibly" committing genocide in Gaza.
Although the U.S. judge also found that the case about the Biden administration's complicity falls "outside the court's limited jurisdiction," the ICJ case is proceeding and the court last month ordered Israel to prevent genocide in Gaza.
"We see Israel directly violating those provisional orders," Erakat said, pointing to the rising death toll, blocked humanitarian aid, and continued commentary from Israeli leaders.
"This is a warning to the world," she added. "Israel must stop its genocidal campaign now."
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800+ US, European Civil Servants Condemn Governments for Fueling Israeli War Crimes
"We are obliged to do everything in our power on behalf of our countries and ourselves to not be complicit in one of the worst human catastrophes of this century."
Feb 02, 2024
More than 800 government officials in the United States and Europe released a letter Friday criticizing their countries' leaders for providing unconditional military and diplomatic support to Israel as it inflicts disaster on Gaza's population.
The civil servants, who signed the letter anonymously due to fear of reprisal, wrote that their attempts to voice concerns internally about their governments' support for Israel's assault on Gaza "were overruled by political and ideological considerations."
"We are obliged to do everything in our power on behalf of our countries and ourselves to not be complicit in one of the worst human catastrophes of this century," the letter reads. "We are obliged to warn the publics of our countries, whom we serve, and to act in concert with transnational colleagues."
"Israel has shown no boundaries in its military operations in Gaza, which has resulted in tens of thousands of preventable civilian deaths," the letter continues. "There is a plausible risk that our governments' policies are contributing to grave violations of international humanitarian law, war crimes, and even ethnic cleansing or genocide."
The letter was coordinated by government officials in The Netherlands, the U.S., and European Union bodies and endorsed by civil servants in 10 countries, including Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
"When the system produces perverse decisions or actions, we have a responsibility to stop it. It's not as simple as 'shut up and do what you're told'; we're also paid to think."
Josh Paul, a former U.S. State Department official who resigned in October over the Biden administration's decision to continue arming Israel as it pummeled Gaza, called the new letter "a remarkable statement from hundreds of individuals who have devoted their lives to building a better world."
"One-sided support for Israel's atrocities in Gaza, and a blindness to Palestinian humanity, is both a moral failure, and, for the harm it does to Western interests around the globe, a policy failure," Paul told HuffPost.
"At a time where our politicians seem to have forgotten them," Paul added, the letter "is a much-needed reminder of the core values that bind the transatlantic relationship, and a proof that they endure."
Paul told The New York Times that he knew the organizers of the letter, which marks the latest sign of mounting dissent inside Western governments over their support for Israel's war on Gaza as famine and disease spread across the enclave. United Nations experts warned earlier this week that Gazans are "enduring apocalyptic humanitarian conditions, destruction, mass killing, wounding, and irreparable trauma."
Berber van der Woude, a former Dutch diplomat who resigned in 2022 over her government's support for Israel's oppression of Palestinians, also spoke out in support of the new letter from U.S. and European civil servants. Rights groups have accused the Dutch government of complicity in Israeli war crimes, pointing to the export of military supplies.
"Being a civil servant doesn't absolve you from your responsibility to keep on thinking," van der Woude told the Times on Friday. "When the system produces perverse decisions or actions, we have a responsibility to stop it. It's not as simple as 'shut up and do what you're told'; we're also paid to think."
The unnamed officials implored their governments to stop telling the public that "there is a strategic and defensible rationale behind the Israeli operation and that supporting it is in our countries' interests."
Israel claims it is targeting Hamas, but one human rights monitor estimates that upwards of 90% of those killed by Israeli forces in Gaza were civilians. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that U.S. and Israeli officials believe that up to 80% of Hamas' tunnels are still intact after nearly four months of incessant bombing, which has killed more than 27,000 Gazans.
To end the bloodshed, the civil servants demanded that their governments "use all leverage available—including a halt to military support—to secure a lasting cease-fire and full humanitarian access in Gaza and a safe release of all hostages."
They also urged world leaders to "develop a strategy for lasting peace that includes a secure Palestinian state and guarantees for Israel's security, so that an attack like 7 October and an offensive on Gaza never happen again."
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