Google is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. that operates the world's largest search engine and Google Cloud Platform. The company appears in the 2025 UN Human Rights Council report A/HRC/59/23 identifying corporations complicit in Israel's "economy of genocide." The BDS Movement and No Tech for Apartheid campaign call for ending Google's military contracts with Israel.
Internal Google documents from January 2021, obtained by The Intercept, in which Google acknowledged within Project Nimbus
Google Cloud Services could be used for, or linked to, the facilitation of human rights violations, including Israeli activity in the West Bank.
Project Nimbus
Project Nimbus is a $1.2 billion cloud computing contract between the Israeli apartheid government and Google and Amazon, designed to provide cloud infrastructure, artificial intelligence, and machine learning services to Israeli ministries, occupational forced, and intelligence agencies. The project includes data centers located within Israeli to keep data beyond the jurisdiction of international courts. The contract is structured to prevent Google from withdrawing services or imposing usage restrictions.
Google and Amazon Web Services were awarded Project Nimbus in April 2021, with the contract signed during Israel's bombing of Gaza in May 2021. Internal Google documents estimated potential revenue of $3.3 billion from Israeli data centers between 2023 and 2027, with $525 million through 2028 coming directly from Israel's Ministry of War.
Leaked Israeli Finance Ministry documents reveal Google agreed to "Adjusted Terms of Service" that explicitly supersede the company's standard policies. The contract states these adjusted terms "are the only terms that shall apply" to cloud services consumed. Within these contract terms Google cannot terminate service to any government entity. Israel can extend the contract up to 23 years with limited ability for Google to withdraw.
Military and Intelligence Customers
Confirmed Project Nimbus customers include the Israeli Ministry of War, the IOF, Shin Bet (domestic intelligence), and obligatory cloud customers including Israel Aerospace Industries, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems (Spike missiles, Iron Dome components), and Elta Systems (surveillance equipment and remote-controlled bulldozers used in Gaza).
Services include cloud computing, AI and machine learning, AutoML for training custom models, AI-enabled facial detection, automated image categorization, object tracking, and sentiment analysis. A leaked March 2024 contract showed Google billing the Israeli Ministry of War over $1 million for consulting services providing "architecture design, implementation guidance, and automation" for military units.
When Israel's internal military cloud became overloaded in October 2023, Google and Amazon stepped in with critical infrastructure. Internal documents show Google granted an urgent Ministry of War request to expand Vertex AI access in October/November 2023, with multiple requests for Gemini AI access processed throughout 2024.
Secret Notification System
The contract includes a covert warning system called the "winking mechanism": if foreign courts legally compel Google to hand over Israeli data Google must secretly alert Israel by making a bank transfer disguised as "special compensation." The transfer amount encodes which country seized the data using international dialing codes: a US request (+1) triggers a 1,000 shekel transfer; Italy (+39) triggers 3,900 shekels; Denmark (+45) triggers 4,500 shekels. If the gag order is so strict that Google cannot even hint at which country made the request, a flat 100,000 shekel (~$30,000) transfer must be sent within 24 hours to signal that data was compromised but the source cannot be revealed.
Google, Amazon, and Microsoft IOF Weapons Platform
In July 2024, the commander of the IOF's Center of Computing and Information Systems Unit, described the military's cloud infrastructure as "a weapons platform" including applications for marking bombing targets, a portal for viewing live drone footage over Gaza, and fire, command, and control systems. She stated working with Amazon, Google, and Microsoft granted the Israeli military "very significant operational effectiveness" in Gaza.
UN Complicity Finding
The June 2025 UN Human Rights Council report A/HRC/59/23 explicitly named Google as complicit in Israeli apartheid and genocide. The report stated that Microsoft, Google, and Amazon
grant Israel virtually government-wide access to their cloud and artificial intelligence technologies, enhancing data processing, decision-making and surveillance and analysis capacities.
The report connected this infrastructure to AI targeting systems including "Lavender," "Gospel," and "Where's Daddy?", systems that generated lists marking up to 37,000 Palestinians as suspected militants for potential airstrikes, with human operators spending approximately 20 seconds per target for approval.
$45 Million Propaganda Contract
Google signed a $45 million contract with the Israeli Government Advertising Agency. The contract explicitly described the campaign as "hasbara"—the Hebrew term for state-backed propaganda.
The campaign's purpose was countering UN reports documenting the famine in Gaza. This included a YouTube video by Israel's Foreign Ministry stating "There is food in Gaza. Any other claim is a lie", with the video reach being boosted through paid promotion. This campaign was launched after Israel announced a blockade of all food, medicine, fuel, and humanitarian supplies to Gaza on March 2, 2025.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin reportedly described the UN as "transparently antisemitic" on an internal company forum in July 2025.
Employee Firings
On April 16, 2024, workers staged sit-ins at Google offices in New York City and California. However, Google called police to both locations. Nine employees were arrested and, Google fired approximately 50 employees.
In March 2024, Google terminated software engineer Eddie Hatfield after he interrupted Google Israel managing director at a conference shouting: "I am a Google Cloud software engineer, and I refuse to build technology that powers genocide, apartheid, or surveillance!"
That same week, Google shut down an internal employee message board after staffers posted comments about Israeli military contracts.
Data Centers in Israel
Project Nimbus requires data centers to be at least 25 km apart, which requires around a $1.23 billion investment to build them in Israel. The UN report stated that Israeli-hosted servers create "a shield from accountability", keeping data beyond the reach of foreign courts.
A separate classified contract code-named "Natrolite" handles classified workloads, with a "Classified Team" of Israeli nationals with security clearances created within Google to receive information that cannot be shared with Google's main teams.
U.S. Military Contracts
In December 2022, Google secured a share of the Pentagon's $9 billion military cloud contract alongside Amazon, Microsoft, and Oracle.
Sources:
- +972 Magazine No restrictions’ and a secret ‘wink’: Inside Israel’s deal with Google, Amazon
- +972 Magazine ‘Order from Amazon’: How tech giants are storing mass data for Israel’s war
- Aljazeera What is Project Nimbus, and why are Google workers protesting Israel deal?
- AFSC Investigate Alphabet Inc
- BDS Movement No Tech for Oppression, Apartheid or Genocide
- Business & Human Rights Resource Centre Internal Google documents reveal early human rights concerns over controversial Project Nimbus contract with Israel
- Democracy Now! Google Fires Another 20 Employees in Retaliation for Project Nimbus Protest
- Drop Site News Google's $45 Million Contract With Netanyahu's Office to Spread Israeli Propaganda
- Forbes Inside Israel's Secret Startup Machine
- No Tech For Apartheid Home
- NPR Google fires 28 workers who protested selling technology to Israel
- Reuters Pentagon splits $9 billion cloud contract among Google, Amazon, Oracle and Microsoft
- OHCHR A/HRC/59/23: From economy of occupation to economy of genocide - Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967
- The Guardian Revealed: Israel demanded Google and Amazon use secret ‘wink’ to sidestep legal orders
- The Intercept Google Worried It Couldn’t Control How Israel Uses Project Nimbus, Files Reveal
- The Intercept Documents Contradict Google’s Claims About Its Project Nimbus Contract With Israel
- The Intercept Documents Reveal Advanced AI Tools Google Is Selling to Israel