Various companies including IBM, HP and Microsoft are contributing to the genocide in Gaza and the system of apartheid in Israel by supplying solutions and services. We examine the role these companies play.
When President Putin’s Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and promptly committed war crimes in Bucha, major technology companies put their moral compass above financial gain. Even before they were required to do so by sanctions, sanctions, companies such as Cisco, IBM, HP, Microsoft, Google and Intel largely withdrew from the country.
In Israel, these same companies are still active and support both the government and the military. The war in Gaza, which started after Hamas’s terrorist attack on October 7, 2023 (resulting in approximately 1,200 casualties and 240 kidnappings), has nevertheless degenerated into a genocide according to the criteria of the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. This was determined earlier this week by the vast majority of scholars affiliated with the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS).
This genocide has already claimed the lives of over 64,000 Palestinians (of which about 70 percent are women and children). An arrest warrant has been issued by the International Criminal Court against Prime Minister Netanyahu (and Defense Minister Gallant), just as against Putin. Other suspected war crimes are also piling up: more than 300 aid workers and about 190 journalists have already died during attacks that regularly target hospitals.
Private sector support
The genocide in Gaza cannot be seen separately from the oppression in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel. Francesca Albanese, UN rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, notes in an extensive report that colonial actions and associated genocides have historically always taken place with the support of the private sector.
In her report, Albanese finds that large international companies are also profiting today. Several (mainly American) tech giants provide solutions and services that support or enable the current situation.
Several tech giants provide solutions and services that support the current situation.
After an eventful week, it’s interesting to look at how the technology companies that promptly left Russia continue to play a noteworthy role in maintaining the actions of the Israeli army and police services, both in Gaza and in the occupied territories. We base this analysis primarily on Albanese’s strongly substantiated report.
IBM
IBM has been active in Israel since 1972 and helps train personnel for intelligence services, including Unit 8200. Since 2019, IBM Israel has managed the central Eitan database of the Population and Immigration Authority, which collects biometric data of Palestinians and is used for Israel’s permit system. This system helps drive apartheid within the country’s borders, among other things by restricting free movement (to family or work) of certain residents through the use of checkpoints.
HPE
HPE managed Aviv. That is the predecessor of the Eitan database with the biometric data. IBM took over the role in 2019. HPE company still supplies servers. Police services and the prison system are also among the customers. Both institutions regularly target Palestinians.
HP
HP provides solutions and technology to COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories). This agency is responsible for policy within the largely Israeli-occupied and colonized West Bank.
The UN calls the settlement policy in the Israeli territories illegal. States and consequently companies are not allowed to provide aid or assistance to maintain the situation in those areas.
The police and prison system are also customers of HP. In the report, Albanese notes that opaque structures make the exact role of Israeli subsidiaries unclear.
Microsoft
Microsoft has been active in Israel since 1991 and has its largest center outside the US there. Redmond provides its solutions to the prison system and the police, but also civilian institutions such as universities and schools within the illegally occupied territories. The support of non-military institutions plays a role in maintaining the illegal occupation.
Microsoft has been integrating its technology within the Israeli army since 2003 and invests in startups involved in cybersecurity and surveillance. The company provides cloud and AI services to various agencies, including defense, and recently fired four employees who protested against the ties with Israel.
Google (Alphabet)
Google is a partner in Project Nimbus. This is an opaque contract that provides cloud infrastructure for the Israeli government and military. The contract is worth $1.2 billion and that money comes mainly from the Israeli Ministry of Defense.
Unit 8200 further uses facial recognition to identify Palestinians. Google Photos is used for this, the New York Times discovered in 2024. The results are often inaccurate, with consequences for wrongly identified Palestinians.
Update 11/09/2025: Google receives more than 40 million euros (converted) from the Israeli government to spread propaganda via YouTube and other advertising channels. The propaganda includes videos that attempt to cast doubt on the officially established famine in Gaza and undermine the neutrality of the IPC, which is authorised to make such determinations.
Amazon
Amazon also helps with Project Nimbus and supports the construction of local IT infrastructure.
Palantir Technologies
Palantir Technologies collaborates with Israel and the military and provides AI services for the police and military. Palantir supports automated military decision-making with its AI platform and is linked to the military’s target selection. The CEO describes killed Palestinians as “mostly terrorists”.
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The company is notoriously secretive, making it unclear what role it exactly plays. The company is certainly involved in matters such as predictive policing and the delivery of AI systems that integrate with real-time military data.
NSO Group
Mentioning the NSO Group is stating the obvious. The company was founded by ex-members of Unit 8200 and specializes in advanced spyware such as Pegasus. It is used against Palestinian activists worldwide, but also journalists and outspoken human rights defenders.
NSO Group also sells the spyware to other countries with a very dubious relationship with human rights. The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi Arabia in Istanbul in 2018 appears to have been facilitated by NSO.
Cisco
Cisco is not mentioned in Albanese’s report, but is mentioned by the Who Profits research NGO. It points to Cisco’s involvement in the development of the digital platform Israel Rises for the military. Cisco also provides the military with Cisco Unified Communications and other IT services.
As a supplier of network solutions for the Israeli military, Cisco indirectly plays a role in enabling the current military operations in Gaza.
Dell Technologies
According to Who Profits, Dell won a tender in 2023 to supply servers to the Israeli Ministry of Defense. The tender is worth $150 million. Dell has been working with the Israeli military for a longer time.
According to the NGO, Dell was also a sponsor of and participant in the IT for IDF (Israel Defense Forces – the military) conference on July 10 last year, when the situation in Gaza had already escalated far beyond what could be called legitimate defense against Hamas’s attacks in 2023. Google was initially also a sponsor, but withdrew a few days before the conference.
Intel
Intel is also not specifically mentioned by Albanese, but does play an important role in Israel. The company has several factories and R&D centers in Israel. A large part of the manufacturing and development of chips takes place in the country, including that of the 7 nm processors. Intel wanted to invest $25 billion in a new factory in the country, but had to pause those plans as the company has since found itself in difficult economic waters.
Vagueness prevails
Most companies mentioned in the report and other analyses choose not to include the colonization, apartheid and genocide in Gaza in their decision to work with the Israeli government.
The purpose of contracts, usually concluded with Israeli business entities that fall under the corporate structure of large technology giants, is rarely black-and-white military. Vagueness prevails, as Albanese criticizes: most organizations do not literally provide solutions used among the devestated schools and houses in Gaza. They do provide infrastructure that supports the Israeli military and the Ministry of Defense in their current actions.
IT as a foundation
This has concrete consequences. Israel uses smart databases and AI systems such as Lavender and Gospel to identify and kill targets. In 2023 and 2024, Lavender linked tens of thousands of Palestinians to Hamas, which was equivalent to a death sentence. Gospel, in turn, helps decide where the deadly bombs fall in Gaza.
Such capabilities are only possible through IT support from large (American) companies. Without chips from Intel, server infrastructure placed as part of Project Nimbus, gigantic personal databases built and maintained by HPE and IBM, and many other supporting measures, this IT infrastructure could not facilitate the genocide.
Money and Direct Involvement
Moreover – and Albanese criticizes this in her report – the multinationals are profiting from the situation.
Palantir’s technology is co-responsible for numerous deaths.
Some companies are very directly involved. Palantir’s technology is co-responsible for numerous deaths. Although forensic evidence is lacking, it is very plausible that Palantir plays a fairly direct role in target selection and resulting lethal military actions. The CEO says, referring to the military actions, that they are (mostly) terrorists, but provides no evidence.
IBM’s role cannot be minimized either. The Eitan database built by the company contains information including fingerprints and facial images of subjects and residents of the occupied territories. It serves as a tool for internal discrimination.
Choice
Finally, every war costs money, including one that has taken the form of a genocide. Large investments in the Israeli economy, such as those of Intel, contribute to the state income needed to maintain the situation today. Furthermore, business as usual in Israel itself and the occupied territories legitimizes the current state of affairs.
At a time when Amnesty International, qualified scientists, Israeli scholars themselves and eyewitnesses on the ground are unequivocally speaking of a genocide, supporting the war economy is an active choice. Collaboration with a government whose head of state is subject to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court should not be concidered normal either.
During Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, multinationals showed that it is indeed possible to stop or scale down economic activity when it crosses moral boundaries. It is striking that the same companies are not taking that step today.