Genocide profiteers: Israeli state-owned weapons companies required to purchase cloud services from Google and Amazon

By kevinhughes // 2024-05-16

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Israeli state-owned weapons companies are mandated to purchase cloud-based services from Big Tech firms Google and Amazon, according to a report by the Intercept. The alternative news outlet confirmed the existence of Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud contract between the two tech giants and Tel Aviv, in a 63-page Israeli government procurement document. Under this contract, the Israeli Ministry of Defense and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are Nimbus customers. Israeli state-owned weapons manufacturers – including Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems (RADS) – must also run their cloud services under Nimbus. According to the Intercept, RADS produces the Spike missile – which analysts believe Israel has utilized on Palestinians, and leaves cube-shaped tungsten shrapnel wounds. The report discovered that the missile was used as recently as last month, during Israel's drone-assisted killing of seven World Central Kitchen humanitarian workers. Pro-Palestinian campaign group No Tech for Apartheid (NTA) also stressed that Israel's Settlement Division, which is charged with broadening Israel's illegal colonies in the occupied West Bank, is one of Project Nimbus' customers. It added that IAI subsidiary Elta makes a robot bulldozer used by the IDF to demolish buildings in Gaza. The tender document contains mostly legal details, rules and regulations presenting how exactly the state will buy cloud computing services from Amazon and Google, which won the $1.2 billion contract in 2021. The Israeli document was first released in 2021 but has been updated periodically, the last in October 2023. The tender document doesn't require any of the entities to buy cloud services, but if they require these services – everywhere in any 21st-century enterprise – they must buy them from the two American tech giants. A separate portion of the document indicates that any office that wants to purchase cloud computing services from other corporations must petition two government committees that supervise procurement for a specific exemption.

Google and Amazon silent about Project Nimbus

The Intercept added that the two tech giants are both unwilling to talk about the security aspects of Project Nimbus. While information of Google and Amazon's contractual work with the Israeli arms industry isn't shown in the tender document, IAI and RADS are responsible for making drones, missiles and other weapons Israel has employed to attack Gaza. "If tech companies, including Google and Amazon, are engaged in business activities that could impact Palestinians in Gaza, or indeed Palestinians living under apartheid in general, they must abide by their responsibility to carry out heightened human rights due diligence along the entirety of the lifecycle of their products," said Matt Mahmoudi, a researcher at Amnesty International working on tech issues. "This must include how they plan to prevent, mitigate, and provide redress for possible human rights violation, particularly in light of mandatory relationships with weapons manufacturers, which contribute to risk of genocide." Because of this, Google and Amazon have been criticized for being "genocide profiteers with blood on their hands." NTA released a statement on May 2 condemning the tech giants for "directly colluding with Israeli occupation forces." "With this new reporting, there is no room left for doubt: Google and Amazon are turbocharging the Israeli military's killing machine," the campaign group said. NTA also earlier discovered that the IDF utilizes Google Photos for facial recognition across Gaza, which they said has led to the arrest and torture of thousands of Palestinians. In April, Google dismissed over 50 employees who were protesting their cloud-computing contract with the Israeli government. The protest included a 10-hour-long sit-in, with workers stating they planned to occupy the offices until they were either arrested or Google canceled its contract with Israel. (Related: Google fires dozens of pro-Palestinian employees who protested against company’s cloud deal with Israel.) The sit-in was planned after a report by Time magazine which disclosed that Google had offered cloud services for the Israeli military, based on company documents seen by the outlet. Watch the video below to know why Google's Project Nimbus is the future of evil. This video is from the RED PILLED channel on Brighteon.com.

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Google and Amazon silent about Project Nimbus

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