Alwaght- Though war on Gaza is waged using modern military equipment and weapons, behind this large-scale barbarous war stand tens of American tech and computer giants that provide their services to the Israeli genocidal campaign. This report sheds light on American technology companies' complicity in Gaza war crimes.
Google's $45 million contract
Recently, Google signed a $45 million contract with the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to run advertisements promoting Israeli war narrative. This advertising deal, signed in late June for a period of six months, will publish the desired ads for Tel Aviv on social media like YouTube and Facebook. It has been said that the agreement aims to run advertisements in favor of Tel Aviv and to deny the crimes that have been committed against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip over the past 700 days. These are crimes that have created one of the longest and most brutal human tragedies of the modern era.
Last month, the Washington Post reported that Google's cloud business has provided the Israeli military with access to its AI-based services. In January 2024, the AI company OpenAI also removed its restrictions on the ban of using its services for "military and war" activities for the military of the Israeli regime, allowing Israelis to use the company's AI services without restrictions.
$3 million deal with X
Earlier, the Israelis had signed a $3 million deal with X, formerly Twitter, and a $2.1 million with Israeli platform Outbrain for advertisements in relation to Gaza war. X is one of the world’s most-viewed social platforms where several times pro-Gaza campaigns and hashtags have been trending, and now managers of this company are to channel its ads in favor of Tel Aviv.
Microsoft, the deal friend of occupiers
Newly leaked documents reveal the Israeli military has heavily relied on Microsoft's cloud and AI systems throughout its Gaza war campaign, using the tech giant's infrastructure to power a targeted propaganda effort to justify its offensive.
The disclosures underscore a deepening partnership between Microsoft and the Israeli military following the October 7, 2023 attacks. They confirm that the American company provided crucial computing and data storage services to the Israeli occupation forces under a $10 million contract.
Faced with a surge in demand for data storage to support its computational and algorithmic operations after the Gaza offensive began, the Israeli army entered into the agreement to secure cloud space on Microsoft's servers.
Beyond Microsoft, the IDF has also established contracts with other US tech behemoths, including Amazon and Google, for data storage and analysis of intelligence. Computing products from these firms are reportedly used across Israeli air, land, and naval forces, as well as its intelligence directorate.
Microsoft, acting as a trusted partner to Israel’s Ministry of Defense, is often tasked with working on highly sensitive, classified projects. According to a report by +972 Magazine, Microsoft personnel work closely with Israeli military intelligence, including its elite surveillance Unit 8200. During the Gaza assault, Microsoft engineers provided support to IDF intelligence units and the secretive Unit 9900, which specializes in visual intelligence analysis. Furthermore, Microsoft recently secured extensive access to OpenAI's powerful GPT-4 AI model for the Israeli military.
Documents published by +972 indicate that between October 2023 and June 2024, Israel’s Ministry of Defense received approximately 19,000 hours of engineering support and consulting from Microsoft, a service package estimated to be worth around $10 million.
Microsoft technology also underpins a system known as "Rolling Stone," which Israeli security forces use to manage the registration and movement of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. During the recent conflict, Microsoft's communication systems were utilized by an Israeli Air Force unit responsible for managing databases of potential targets for airstrikes, known as "target banks."
How are reports on Gaza distorted?
Confirming large payments of the Israeli regime to the American tech companies, The Guardian reported that these actions are meant to broadly promote the Israeli narrative about Gaza humanitarian crisis and also boosting Israeli promotions on Google to neutralize reports by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) that is active in Palestine since decades.
Despite the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, numerous official statements and reports from Hebrew-language sources have repeatedly denied the existence of famine in the war-ravaged coastal enclave. This includes a video circulated widely among users on YouTube by Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which claims, "There is food in Gaza. Anything you hear otherwise is a lie."
Furthermore, a report published approximately two months ago by the Arab fact-checking organization Mishbar, citing data revealed through Google and Meta's financial transparency portals, indicated that Tel Aviv officials had launched an "extensive propaganda campaign in favor of Israel." Mishbar stated in its report that these propaganda campaigns are disseminated with the aim of justifying the offensive in Gaza.
Loss of war of narratives
Despite spending millions of dollars on advertising to shape the global public opinion in its favor using American tech companies, Israel is the losing side in the war of narratives about Gaza conflict. Israel's Ma’ariv has recently reported Tel Aviv has suffered a "heavy loss" in the public opinion and on media. The remarks by the US President Donald Trump, a staunch backer of Israel, that " they may be winning the [Gaza] war, but they’re not winning the world of public relations" bear witness to this defeat.
In other words, Tel Aviv may have made advances on the battleground, but is has turned out a loser when it comes to public opinion. The reality is that the ongoing war after 700 days has brought no gains to the Israelis and their failure to make advances in Gaza is because of their loss in the battle of narratives. Simply, Tel Aviv has failed to get the world public opinion support for what it promotes as legitimacy of Gaza war.
