| ▲ | noworriesnate 2 hours ago |
| TIL that Microsoft is the least Israel-friendly of the big three clouds: > Among the cloud giants, Microsoft is considered the most vulnerable to anti-Israel protests and allegations of the use made by the Ministry of Defense on Azure, its cloud platforms, since it is the only company among the three major cloud companies that has not signed a special agreement with the Israeli government and the Ministry of Defense. The industry says that Haimovich, who is known as a prominent salesman with the government sector, was appointed country general manager, among other things, due to Microsoft's plans to retain and increase business with the government sector, despite not winning the Nimbus tender. > In 2021, Israel awarded Amazon and Google the Nimbus cloud tender, encouraging government bodies and public organizations to migrate to these services, at the expense of Microsoft. In return, Amazon and Google pledged to establish service areas in data centers on Israeli soil, in order to avoid exposing security or government data to foreign regulation. |
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| ▲ | bhouston 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| > TIL that Microsoft is the least Israel-friendly of the big three clouds This is a good thing. American companies should not be allowing their tech to be used to in the gross ongoing human rights violations in Israel/Gaza/West Bank. Google and Amazon knew their tech could be used for human rights abuses in Israel (their lawyers warned them so) but ignored that in favour of $$$ per the EFF: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/04/google-and-amazon-ackn... |
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| ▲ | ApolloFortyNine 31 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | Thanks for the link, I didn't realize the EFF spent their money on such things. I honestly thought they focused on free speech/privacy/open source. I'm not trying to argue pro Israel or what not, I just wish they'd focus on their core mission. | | |
| ▲ | 4MOAisgoodenuf 25 minutes ago | parent [-] | | Somewhat hard to be neutral when outgrowths of the Israeli state like the NSO Group and Canary Mission start taking a stand against privacy and free speech |
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| ▲ | danudey 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Yeah but when you read the article it comes across less like 'Microsoft doesn't want its services used for ethics violations' and more 'The unethical genocide Israel is doing uses some servers in the EU exposing Microsoft to legal and regulatory issues'. IOW this isn't an ethical or moral stance against what the Ministry of Defense was doing, it's purely because they could potentially get in trouble with the EU for abetting the genocide. | | |
| ▲ | bhouston 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | > Yeah but when you read the article it comes across less like 'Microsoft doesn't want its services used for ethics violations' and more 'The unethical genocide Israel is doing uses some servers in the EU exposing Microsoft to legal and regulatory issues'. You are incorrect. Microsoft has made clear that it is related to all of its Azure services that were misused with regards to its terms of services, not just those in Europe. Here is Microsoft's original statement when it began this investigation: "The Guardian, on that date, reported that multiple individuals have asserted that the IDF is using Azure for the storage of data files of phone calls obtained through broad or mass surveillance of civilians in Gaza and the West Bank. Microsoft’s standard terms of service prohibit this type of usage." https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2025/05/15/stateme... | | |
| ▲ | shevy-java an hour ago | parent [-] | | Ok, so The Guardian was incomplete in its assumptions. But Microsoft's explanation also does not make sense - see how they have to support any war waged by the US government. They would have had to support the Vietnam war, if were were in that era back. Something does not add up here still. | | |
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| ▲ | shevy-java an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Agreed, but then Germany is also to be held liable as it supports Israel and allows the USA to use its bases there to bomb people in far-away countries. So there is a huge inconsistency here, IMHO. | | | |
| ▲ | expedition32 an hour ago | parent | prev [-] | | Yeah this is exactly it. Europe is no longer friendly with Israel. It makes Americans seethe with rage ofcourse- only Americans are allowed to put pressure on corporations. |
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| ▲ | frumplestlatz 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | [flagged] | | |
| ▲ | megabless123 an hour ago | parent | next [-] | | https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/israel-has-c... GENEVA – Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel said in a new report today. The Commission urges Israel and all States to fulfil their legal obligations under international law to end the genocide and punish those responsible for it. | | |
| ▲ | krembo 41 minutes ago | parent [-] | | The UN has been biased against Israel for the past decades. I don't buy any of their reports. | | |
| ▲ | array_key_first 25 minutes ago | parent [-] | | The UN, like most western organizations, is biased in favor of Israel. Meaning, this reporting is what favorable coverage looks like. You should read unfavorable coverage, it's much much worse. It took the UN a long time to acknowledge Israel even did anything wrong. | | |
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| ▲ | catigula an hour ago | parent | prev [-] | | Incorrect. |
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| ▲ | drnick1 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | [flagged] | | |
| ▲ | righthand an hour ago | parent [-] | | Israel is effectively governed by a terrorist organization backed by USA. | | |
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| ▲ | george916a an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | [flagged] | |
| ▲ | ToucanLoucan 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | > American companies should not be allowing their tech to be used to in the gross ongoing human rights violations in Israel/Gaza/West Bank. Fully agreed, but also a hard sell given that America itself does not recognize what is happening there as a genocide. Something something man understanding depending on his salary. Americans only give a shit about the price of gas and eggs. Whoever has to die to keep those down is apparently fine with the majority of our population. | | | |
| ▲ | yodsanklai 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | > American companies should not be allowing their tech to ... Do they have a choice? | | |
| ▲ | idle_zealot an hour ago | parent [-] | | In what dimension do you mean? Legally? Yes, unless based out of a place with an anti-BDS law. Politically? Sure, it's a bet against those currently in power and for the sentiment in the population. Practically? Yes, they can refuse business and contracts. I suppose they could also put killswitches in their hardware/software, but I wouldn't be a fan of that for digital-rights reasons. Economically? Who knows, the market makes no sense at all currently. They could probably get away with whatever. |
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| ▲ | shrubble an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| I’m kind of confused, in that Israel is not that big in terms of population, about 10 million people; how much data and cloud do they need? The state of Pennsylvania is 13 million; would MSFT losing PA do them serious financial damage? |
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| ▲ | readitalready an hour ago | parent [-] | | They're trying to spy on everyone in the mideast and the world, including Americans. Israel is a dangerous rogue state that should be eliminated entirely. Let the Palestinians take over Israel and let them decide what to do with the Israeli people. | | |
| ▲ | trick-or-treat 26 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | Sure. Let's let Mexicans take over America while we're at it, because spying is wrong. | | | |
| ▲ | krembo 40 minutes ago | parent | prev [-] | | We have already seen in Oct 7 what happens when you let palestinians take over. I'm sure you're ok with that, I'm not. | | |
| ▲ | readitalready 30 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | Wait you're NOT OK with indigenous people fighting against a foreign invasion force that has been documented killing children and raping women for decades to steal their land? (Including proud confessions on video?) I suggest you get with the program. The world supports Oct 7 as they now recognize it as a good thing that Palestinians are fighting back against an evil foreign invasion. It's entirely possible that October 7 will be a worldwide holiday in a few years, as something to celebrate. And no, no one believes that Palestinians committed any rapes or beheaded babies on October 7 either, since anytime people ask to confirm those claims with details, such as the names of any alleged rape victims or the names of any beheaded babies, they don't respond. In general, the way you catch people lying is by asking for details, since when you lie, you have to make up an entire universe to support it as well, which you then can poke for holes or contradictions. | | |
| ▲ | krembo 17 minutes ago | parent [-] | | Ofcourse I'm ok with indigenous people fighting against a foreign invasion force that has been documented killing children and raping women for decades to steal their land. This is why I'm on the Israeli side which the whole land is filled with their archeological sites and against the saudi-desert invaders who are relatively new to the area and refusing any resolution to peacefully split the land since 1948. | | |
| ▲ | readitalready 2 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | OK glad you agree that Israelis are foreigners that originated as slaves in Egypt. Or did you want to go back to their TRUE origins in Iraq? Ultimately, religions do not have right-of-inheritance. When a Christian dies and leaves a home or other property, another Christian doesn't get to come in and say "It's ok, I get to take that property because I'm a Christian, too" And Israelis don't get to take property because they happen to have a similar religion to someone else a few thousand years ago. Only descendants of people with title or deed get to claim inheritance, not some random with the same religion. And because the Israelis chose to leave Palestine for Europe, they lost all claim to Palestine. Your god told you that you are to inherit the land of Palestine, and told you to literally kill children to take that land in Deuteronomy 20:16-17, but that's YOUR problem, not the Palestinians. Try not to steal someone else's land, plz. Maybe take it up with your god? Or find a different god? | |
| ▲ | danbruc 4 minutes ago | parent | prev [-] | | I am in favor of returning America to the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. And while we are at it, let us also return Australia to the Aboriginal Australians. We probably also have to return Europe, Asia, and Africa - or at least some parts - to someone. |
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| ▲ | throw310822 31 minutes ago | parent | prev [-] | | This is factually incorrect, as "Palestinians" (in fact Hamas warriors) didn't "take over" or had any intention of doing so, they just raided some border areas to take hostages. Btw, many of the Israeli victims were probably killed by their own army, and not by mistake. | | |
| ▲ | krembo 21 minutes ago | parent [-] | | Murdering over 1,000 people in few hours, raping teenagera and burning alive families sounds so romantic when you say it. |
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| ▲ | periodjet 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| This is a very bad look for Microsoft. Israel is the only successful and powerful free democratic state in that part of the world, surrounded on all sides by authoritarian regimes who scheme its destruction, and Microsoft harrumphs and says it would be unethical to do business with them? All the while continuing to do business with the Saudis, the UAE, and Qatar. But no, Israel (the only good guy in the area) is just a step too far… |
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| ▲ | worik 4 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | > Israel is the only successful and powerful free democratic state in that part of the world, Not true. The West Bank is being annexed by Israel and transformed into a racist state, where Jews have more rights than Arabs Not the actions of a "free democratic state" | |
| ▲ | myth_drannon 5 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | It's a naive view of how the world works.
Money talks. Norway, Qatar pressured Microsoft, and since they provide greater financial incentives, M$ complied. And if Microsoft receives a contract for operating gas ovens for jews in europe, I bet it will happily jump on that.
And regarding internal opposition, large chunk of employees in general are just an emotionally stupid grey mass fed on TikTok propaganda. Just look at HN comments. Humans did not advance that much, whatever it was a priest in a church claiming a jew drank a christian baby blood or Goebbels, you can see it right in front of you real time on internet. | |
| ▲ | throw310822 29 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | > success and powerful free democratic state in that part of the world And it's also a state whose prime minister is wanted for crimes against humanity. And the population mostly supports those crimes. | |
| ▲ | TRiG_Ireland an hour ago | parent | prev [-] | | [flagged] |
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| ▲ | shimman 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| That must explain why the "least" friendly MSFT asked the FBI to spy on employees attending pro-Gaza/anti-genocide protests: https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/microsof... Good grief. Let's maybe not parrot out nation state propaganda with zero critical thinking on what's being said. |
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| ▲ | george916a an hour ago | parent [-] | | Of course. Instead let’s call TikTok propaganda “critical thinking”, virtue signal and be content how “smart” and “moral” we are. |
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| ▲ | hersko 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| Is it because it is the most "woke"? Weren't they doing land acknowledgments before some big press event? |
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| ▲ | 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | [deleted] | |
| ▲ | cyanydeez 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | No, it's just a random coin toss. Most of what's happening with rich people becoming psychotic or anti-social is simply greed based. You add money to 70% of the population and they'll turn out to be an asshole. If Microsoft was given more attention by AIPAC or it's billionaires, it would've been the same. Watching the rise of fascism in america should really remind everyone that theres far more going on then a single idiot driving far right fascism. | |
| ▲ | noworriesnate an hour ago | parent | prev [-] | | Being anti-Israel is a bipartisan position in the US among the constituents but not among the representatives (yet) | | |
| ▲ | idle_zealot an hour ago | parent [-] | | There's bipartisan consensus among both constituents and representatives. They're just the opposite consensus. |
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