Today in Focus How Israel used Microsoft technology to spy on Palestinians
15 snips
Aug 14, 2025 Harry Davies, Investigations correspondent at The Guardian, delves into the clandestine discussions between Yossi Sariel and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella about using Microsoft's cloud for surveillance of Palestinians. The conversation spans Israel's Unit 8200's controversial data collection practices, ethical dilemmas, and accountability issues in military operations. Davies highlights the ongoing tension between technology and civil rights, showcasing the profound implications of using tech giants for military intelligence and the ensuing protests against this partnership.
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Spy Chief's Microsoft Visit
- Yossi Sariel flew to Microsoft's Seattle campus in November 2021 to pitch migrating vast Unit 8200 data to Azure.
- He met Satya Nadella and discussed moving up to 70% of the unit's data into Microsoft's cloud.
Unit 8200's Dual Role
- Unit 8200 functions like Israel's NSA, combining signals intelligence and offensive cyber operations.
- The unit trains engineers who later move into private sector cyberoffensive and spyware development.
Spy Chief's Manifesto
- Yossi Sariel wrote a book, 'The Human Machine Team,' under a pen name promoting human-AI collaboration in intelligence.
- The book advocated migrating intelligence data to commercial cloud providers to handle large-scale analysis.
