A report in Israel’s Globes newspaper alleges that Alon Haimovich, the General Manager for Microsoft’s Israel branch, has left the company following an internal ethics investigation.
The report states that Microsoft summoned Haimovich to its ethics committee to raise concerns about the branch’s transparency regarding how Israel uses Microsoft’s systems, as well as terms-of-service violations that posed legal and regulatory risks for the company in Europe. However, a number of Microsoft employees say that the investigation likely doesn’t tell the full story.
Back in the 2010s, Microsoft ramped up its investments, R&D, and sales collaborations with the Israeli military. This is despite the fact that the consensus for many international human rights experts is that Israel has conducted human rights abuses under an apartheid system since its founding.
The reason for Microsoft’s sudden cooling on Israel may never be explicitly confirmed, but it’s important to note that Microsoft’s replacement of its Israeli General Manager comes after a year of intense pressure by pro-Palestine movements in 2025.
The pro-Palestine Boycott Divest and Sanctions movements added Microsoft to its priority target list around July 2025. The announcement was accompanied by a call to boycott Microsoft Xbox and video game-related products.
Additionally, an August 2025 investigation by the Guardian, +972 Magazine, and the Hebrew outlet Local Call detailed Microsoft’s collaboration with the IOF Unit 8200’s project to surveil Palestinian phone calls. The investigation explains how Microsoft provided a “customized and segregated area” within Microsoft’s Azure cloud storage platform, the unit for storing the phone calls. The investigation alleges that such information was used to plan airstrikes, arrests, and other military operations across Gaza and the West Bank.
Whilst Microsoft tried getting ahead of reactions to its involvement with the unit by suspending its involvement with Unit 8200, the employees’ backlash to the report was immense. Microsoft faced multiple protests from the current and former employee-led No Azure for Apartheid movement, expressing disgust at the tech giant’s collaboration with Israel.
While developments such as Microsoft canceling support for an IDF project and pressuring its Israeli leadership to leave may suggest growing strength of Palestine solidarity pressure within the company, many advocates assert that there is still much work to be done to make Microsoft divest from all its involvement with Israel. An AP Investigation found that after Israel’s October 7 offensive against Gaza started, file storage on Microsoft servers doubled to 13.6 terabytes between October 2023 and July 2024. The leadership in the Israel branch wasn’t followed by a full divestment and sanction of all Israel-related assets and projects.
No Azure for Apartheid released a statement proclaiming that Haimovich’s departure fails to bring accountability to the Microsoft executives, such as Satya Nadella, for being culpable in the genocide. The statement concludes by affirming the No Azure for Apartheid movement’s commitment to “end this collusion and cut off all ties with the Israeli military and government immediately.”
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