Project Nimbus (Hebrew: פרויקט נימבוס) is a cloud computing project of the Israeli government and its military.[1][2][3][4] The Israeli Finance Ministry announced April 2021, that the contract is to provide "the government, the defense establishment, and others with an all-encompassing cloud solution."[1] Under the contract, the companies will establish local cloud sites that will "keep information within Israel's borders under strict security guidelines."[4]

Project Nimbus has four planned phases: the first is purchasing and constructing the cloud infrastructure, the second is crafting government policy for moving operations onto the cloud, the third is moving operations to the cloud, and the fourth is implementing and optimizing cloud operations.[5] Under a $1.2 billion contract, technology companies Google (Google Cloud Platform) and Amazon (Amazon Web Services) were selected to provide Israeli government agencies with cloud computing services, including artificial intelligence and machine learning.[6][1]

The terms Israel set for the project contractually forbid Amazon and Google from halting services due to boycott pressure.[7][8] The tech companies are also forbidden from denying service to any particular government entities.[8]

Criticism

The contract has drawn rebuke and condemnation from the companies' shareholders as well as their employees, over concerns that the project will lead to further abuses of Palestinians' human rights in the context of the ongoing occupation and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.[9][10][11][12] Specifically, they voice concern over how the technology will enable further surveillance of Palestinians and unlawful data collection on them as well as facilitate the expansion of Israel's illegal settlements on Palestinian land.[11]

Ariel Koren, who had worked as a marketing manager for Google's educational products and was an outspoken opponent of the project, was given the ultimatum of moving to São Paulo within 17 days or losing her job.[6][13] In a letter announcing her resignation to her colleagues, Koren wrote that Google "systematically silences Palestinian, Jewish, Arab and Muslim voices concerned about Google's complicity in violations of Palestinian human rights—to the point of formally retaliating against workers and creating an environment of fear," reflecting her view that the ultimatum came in retaliation for her opposition to and organization against the project.[6][14] She filed retaliation complaints with Google's human resources department and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which dismissed her case based on lack of evidence.[6] The NLRB also found that the ultimatum predated Koren's protected activities.[15]

Organizations such as Jewish Voice for Peace and MPower Change launched a campaign called "No Tech For Apartheid" (#NoTechForApartheid) opposing the project.[15][16]

References

  1. ^ a b c Biddle, Sam (July 24, 2022). "Documents Reveal Advanced AI Tools Google Is Selling to Israel". The Intercept. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
  2. ^ Ziv, Amitai. "Israel Picks Google, Amazon for Massive Official Cloud; 'Data Will Remain Here'". Haaretz. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
  3. ^ Ziv, Amitai. "Microsoft to Launch Much Awaited Cloud Server Farm in Israel in 2021". Haaretz. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
  4. ^ a b Scheer, Steven (2021-04-21). "Israel picks Amazon's AWS, Google for flagship cloud project". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-08-31.
  5. ^ Stub, Zev (25 May 2021). "Amazon, Google to employ thousands in Israel for massive Nimbus project". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2022-08-31.
  6. ^ a b c d Grant, Nico (2022-08-30). "Google Employee Who Played Key Role in Protest of Contract With Israel Quits". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
  7. ^ Chua, Charmaine; Alimahomed-Wilson, Jake; Potiker, Spencer Louis (2021-06-22). "Amazon's Investments in Israel Reveal Complicity in Settlements and Military Operations". ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
  8. ^ a b Swinhoe, Dan. "Israel Government says AWS and Google can't boycott Nimbus Project". www.datacenterdynamics.com. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
  9. ^ Biddle, Sam (May 18, 2022). "Google and Amazon Face Shareholder Revolt Over Israeli Defense Work". The Intercept. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
  10. ^ "Google, Amazon shareholders to oppose Israeli Project Nimbus". The New Arab. 2022-05-19. Retrieved 2022-08-31.
  11. ^ a b Anonymous (2021-10-12). "We are Google and Amazon workers. We condemn Project Nimbus". The Guardian. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
  12. ^ ""No Tech for Apartheid": Google Workers Push for Cancellation of Secretive $1.2B Project with Israel". Democracy Now!. Retrieved 2022-09-15.
  13. ^ "A worker objected to Google's Israel military contract. Google told her to move to Brazil". Los Angeles Times. 2022-03-15. Retrieved 2022-08-31.
  14. ^ Koren, Ariel (2022-08-30). "Google's Complicity in Israeli Apartheid: How Google Weaponizes "Diversity" to Silence Palestinians…". Medium. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
  15. ^ a b Starr, Michael (31 August 2022). "Jewish Google employee quits citing retaliation over BDS efforts". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  16. ^ Abdelnour, Samer (February 2023). "Making a Killing: Israel's Military-Innovation Ecosystem and the Globalization of Violence". Organization Studies. 44 (2): 333–337. doi:10.1177/01708406221131938. ISSN 0170-8406.
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