Microsoft fires head of Israeli subsidiary and other managers over surveillance of Palestinians

By Ted Litchfield, reposted from PC Gamer, May 11, 2026

As reported by Globes, Microsoft has ousted Alon Haimovich, the general manager of its Israeli subsidiary, as well as other managers from the division, following an internal investigation. The decision is further fallout from a 2025 report from The Guardian and +972 Magazine on Israel’s use of Microsoft Azure cloud services to store data intercepted in the illegally occupied West Bank.

According to Globes, a Microsoft investigative team began work last month over concerns that the Israeli subsidiary was exposing the company to legal liability in Europe. The Azure servers used by the Israeli government to store surveillance data were based in Europe, potentially putting Microsoft at risk from scrutiny by EU regulators.

After investigating Haimovich and his team, Microsoft ousted the GM and other, unnamed senior staff at the subsidiary. While the company searches for a new GM, Microsoft Israel has been placed under the management of Microsoft France.

According to Globes, Microsoft’s exclusion from the Israeli government’s “Nimbus” deal with Google and Amazon in 2021 has limited its relationship with the state, though it is allegedly looking to renew its contract with Israel’s Ministry of Defense when it expires this year.

The center of the controversy is the use of Azure Cloud storage by Israeli intelligence units in their surveillance of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Microsoft’s business relationship with the Israeli government has come under increased public scrutiny since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza in 2023:

• Microsoft employees have protested the company’s relationship with the Israeli government on several occasions, with some of those employees fired as a result.
• Microsoft shareholders have demanded an investigation into the company’s due diligence on human rights.
• Developers at Dishonored studio Arkane Lyon have demanded that Microsoft divest.
• Prolific musician and Windows 95 startup sound composer Brian Eno has called for the company to sever ties with the government of Israel.
• Microsoft and Xbox remain on the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) list for various contracts with Israel’s government and military.
• Microsoft has also come under fire for similarly providing Azure services in support of ICE surveillance in the US.

Ted Litchfield has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister’s copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer.

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