Cisco

Cisco Systems is an American technology corporation that provides networking infrastructure and communications equipment globally, with involvement in surveillance operations, military partnerships, including Israeli occupational forces, and systematic exploitation by intelligence agencies.

Cisco is an official priority target by the BDS Movement stating that:

Cisco knowingly provides Israel with technology that is deployed in its grave human rights violations, war crimes, and crimes against humanity

Occupational Forces Infrastructure Provider

In October 2023, during the on-going genocide on Gaza, Cisco Israel developed the "Israel Rises" platform for the military's Home Front Command and provided financial grants to employees serving in military reserves. The company also sold its Webex communications solution to the military through partnership with Bynet, an Israeli company that provides surveillance tools to border patrol and phone tapping services using voice biometric data of Palestinian prisoners.

Cisco maintains extensive partnerships with the Israeli military, providing critical communications infrastructure that enables military operations. In March 2020, Cisco began installing Unified Communication systems across Israeli military units, centralizing video, voice, and data transfer between combat units. The company's technology forms the backbone of David's Citadel, the Israeli military's largest underground data center completed in 2020 at a cost of NIS 1.6 billion, which integrates 300 surveillance, intelligence, and combat units' systems.

As Cisco’s VP of technology so shamelessly puts it:

The sight of officers in uniforms sitting next to our [Cisco] engineers and developing technological solutions together is very natural to us, but still exciting.

In 2013, Cisco Systems won a tender for a five-year $150 million contract to supply communications equipment to the Israeli army. In 2017, Cisco Systems won a tender to supply the Israeli military with servers for the duration of three years with the possibility of extension, for a total amount of NIS 1 billion. between November 2023 and January 2024, in the middle of Israel's Gaza genocide, Israeli Ministry of Defense purchased Cisco servers worth a total of almost $2 million over eight different contracts.

Settlement Infrastructure

Cisco directly violates international law through its operations in illegal settlements across occupied territories. By September 2023, the company had equipped seven technological hubs in settlements, five in the occupied West Bank (Modi'in Illit, Beitar Illit, Kiryat Arba, Itamar, and Sha'ar Binyamin Industrial Zone) and two in the occupied Syrian Golan. These government subsidized facilities use Cisco hardware to attract and retain settlers, with 26 additional hubs planned for Jerusalem including occupied East Jerusalem.

The company's 2019 partnership with Israel's Ministry for the Development allocated NIS 90 million for 45 tech hubs equipped with Cisco technology, explicitly designed to strengthen the settlement enterprise. These facilities provide economic incentives for continued occupation while appropriating Palestinian and Syrian land.

Surveillance Architecture

Cisco provides surveillance infrastructure that monitors Palestinian populations across occupied territories. In 2017, the company partnered with Jerusalem Municipality to develop "Smart City" surveillance technology specifically targeting Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem, installing CCTVs and communication equipment on a pro-bono basis. The system includes voice detection capabilities and can analyze footage from up to 10,000 cameras.

Israeli police

Between 2020-2021, Cisco sold over millions in equipment to Israeli police. The company's surveillance technology enables discriminatory policing practices and violates privacy rights protected under international law.

Discriminatory Employment Practices

Cisco pioneered a model of economic discrimination in 2008 by paying Palestinian workers approximately half the salary of their Israeli counterparts - $2,500 compared to $4,000 for similar positions. This exploitation model was subsequently adopted by Intel, Microsoft, and Mellanox. While profiting from cheaper Palestinian labor, Cisco simultaneously supports organizations with documented discriminatory practices, including Magen David Adom.

Acquisitions of Israeli Apartheid Startups

Cisco Systems has systematically acquired Israeli companies with deep military intelligence connections, spending over $7.2 billion on at least 10 Israeli firms since 2004, including Portshift with investments from Team8 which is venture capitalist firm made of veterans from Unit 8200. These acquisitions have created a technology ecosystem that directly supports Israeli surveillance, military operations, and settlement expansion in occupied Palestinian territories.

Unit 8200 military intelligence network

Cisco's Israeli acquisition portfolio has pervasive influence from unit 8200, which operates extensive surveillance infrastructure against Palestinians, including AI-powered targeting systems like "Lavender". Some of those purchases and investments include:

Intucell

Intucell was an Israeli startup founded by Rani Wellingstein (served as an Engineer in the IOF for 5 years) and Ido Susan (served in intelligence units for 5 years), that works in mobile network sector. It was purchased by Cisco in $475 million in 2013.

CloudLock

CloudLock was founded by three Israeli military veterans and was purchased by Cisco for 293$ million.

Team8

Team8 is is an Israeli venture capital firm that was founded by Unit 8200 veterans in the IOF with the goal of bringing global tech to the IOF. Cisco was among Team8's first investors in 2014.

Portshift

Portshift is an Israeli cybersecurity startup emerged from Team8's investments and Unit 8200. Cisco purchased Portshift for around a $100 million.

Sources: