Microsoft must be held accountable for aiding genocide and atrocities in Palestine

In the past 18 months, Gaza has been under endless bombings, brutal attacks, massive destruction, and siege by Israeli forces. Over 50,600 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 18,000 children, according to the health ministry in Gaza. Amid this relentless genocide, Microsoft has deeply and profitably entrenched itself as a core player in Israel’s war effort.

According to reports, Microsoft has gone far beyond merely providing its cloud infrastructure. The company has become a key partner to the Israeli military, supplying Azure cloud services and AI technologies that enable Israel to maintain military operations, target civilians, and conduct mass surveillance of Palestinians. Since the war began in October 2023, Microsoft has provided at least $10 million in engineering and technical support to the Israeli military, with millions more set to flow into these bloodstained contracts throughout 2024.

Microsoft’s technologies power military decision-making, enabling the real-time targeting of civilians, accelerating airstrikes, and facilitating mass surveillance operations. Lavender, Israel’s AI-driven bombing system, has been directly implicated in facilitating targeted killings of civilians, relying on data processed and managed through Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure. Microsoft’s AI capabilities and biometric surveillance tools are used to monitor Palestinians, track their movements, and fuel the occupation’s ongoing oppression.

Yet as the world watches the genocide unfold live, Microsoft has doubled down. It continues its contracts with the Israeli military, matches employee donations to groups funding Israel’s war machine and illegal settlements, and silences internal dissent by retaliating against employees who dare to speak out. Microsoft’s actions — without hesitation or remorse — reveal a disturbing trend in Big Tech: the willingness to profit from atrocities and enable state repression under the guise of “ethical AI” and technological advancement.

Even as the UN, human rights organizations, and international courts call for an immediate ceasefire, Microsoft persists. In January 2024, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s actions plausibly amount to genocide, yet Microsoft continues to supply Israel with the tools that fuel this violence, directly undermining international law and abetting war crimes.

This situation represents a chilling example of how Big Tech is complicit in genocide and systemic repression against Palestinians. Microsoft is part of a broader pattern in which tech giants—driven by profits, not principles—feed weapons of war and enable violations of human rights. Despite its vague promises of “corporate responsibility,” Microsoft is fanning the flames of genocide through its partnerships with the Israeli military, facilitating atrocities rather than upholding human dignity.

Microsoft's complicity directly violates the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), which require corporations to protect human rights, avoid causing or contributing to human rights abuses through their operations, and to remedy any negative impacts they are involved in. Microsoft's continued operations with the Israeli military blatantly ignore these principles, eroding the very foundations of global human rights standards.

Skyline International for Human Rights condemns Microsoft for its ongoing role in facilitating genocide and apartheid through its technology partnership with Israel’s military. Microsoft must end its contracts with the Israeli military immediately, halt all support for operations that violate international human rights standards, and fully disclose all ties to Israel’s military apparatus.

This is not just about business — it is about human lives. Every day that Microsoft chooses profit over humanity, it deepens its complicity in sustaining apartheid, genocide, and the erasure of an entire people. 

It is no longer enough to call for change while technology is weaponized for mass killing. Microsoft must be held accountable for its role in enabling genocide and war crimes against Palestinians — and for its employees, customers, and shareholders to demand justice and an end to its complicity.

 

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