from +972’s Sunday Recap
972 Magazine [published in Israel]
Sept 28, 2025
Microsoft has terminated the Israeli army’s access to technology it was using to store vast troves of intelligence on Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and Gaza, Yuval Abraham reported. The decision followed an exposé last month by +972 Magazine, Local Call, and the Guardian revealing how Unit 8200, the Israeli army’s elite cyber warfare agency, was housing recordings of millions of intercepted phone calls by Palestinians on Microsoft’s cloud platform, Azure.
Also:
-
Collaborate or leave: Israel’s cruel ultimatum to #humanitarian groups in Gaza
-
‘They intended to kill us’: #MasaferYatta reels from bloody settler assaults
-
Israel decries #Hollywood boycott — while silencing its own critical filmmakers
-
PODCAST: The only eyes on the ground
The unit is composed primarily of 18–21 year olds. As a result of the youth of the soldiers in the unit, and the shortness of their service period, the unit relies on selecting recruits with the ability for rapid adaptation and speedy learning.Afterschool programs for 16–18 year olds, teaching computer coding and hacking skills, also serve as feeder programs for the unit.
Former Unit 8200 soldiers have, after completing their military service, gone on to founding and occupying top positions in many international IT companies and in Silicon Valley.
