Shortly after the October 7 attacks on Israel, Google CEO Sundar Pichai issued a statement on social media, expressing his sympathy for the Israelis without mentioning the Palestinians. Other tech executives — including Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM — have offered their support for Israel as well.

Since then, they have remained largely silent while the Israeli army massacred nearly 35,000 Palestinians, including more than 14,500 children, destroyed hundreds of schools and all universities, and destroyed Palestinian homes, healthcare infrastructure, mosques, and heritage sites.

To carry out this horrific level of destruction, the Israeli military had the help of artificial intelligence programs designed to produce targets with little human supervision. It is not clear to what extent foreign tech giants are directly involved in these projects. Still, we can confidently say that they provide much of the basic infrastructure needed to build them, including advanced computer chips, software, and cloud computing.

Amidst this AI-assisted genocide, big tech companies in the United States are quietly continuing business as usual with Israel. Intel announced a $25 billion investment in a chip factory in Israel, while Microsoft launched its new Azure cloud region.

None of this should come as a surprise. For decades, Silicon Valley has supported Israel’s apartheid regime, providing the advanced technology and investment needed to power its economy and occupy Palestine.

AI-assisted genocide:

Big Tech companies have been complicit in the Israeli occupation and the dispossession and abuse of Palestinians in a variety of ways. Perhaps most famous is its support for Israel’s pervasive surveillance of occupied indigenous populations.

In March 2021, Google and Amazon signed a $1.2 billion contract for cloud computing services for the Israeli government and defense establishment. The two companies provide Israel with the ability to store, process and analyze data, including facial recognition, emotion recognition, biometrics and demographic information in what is known as Project Nimbus.

The deal received significant attention in mainstream media after Google and Amazon workers demanded the contract be terminated by launching the No Tech Apartheid campaign. In anticipation of this response, Google and Amazon signed an agreement with Israel that guarantees the continuation of services in the event of a boycott campaign. So far, they have survived and continue to provide Israel with cloud computing services.

Silicon Valley and apartheid surveillance:

However, AI-assisted genocide is only the tip of the iceberg. For decades, American technology companies and investors have been quietly aiding and abetting Israel’s digital apartheid. One of the most egregious examples is IBM, which was also the leading supplier of computers for apartheid South Africa’s national population registry and the updated passport system used to sort people by race and enforce apartheid.

According to Who Profits, an independent think tank dedicated to exposing commercial involvement in Israel’s occupation of Palestinian and Syrian territories and populations, “IBM designed and operated the Israeli Population, Immigration and Border Authority (PIBA) ‘s Eitan system…where personal information is collected on occupied Palestinian and Syrian people who It is collected by Israel, stored and managed. The system contains information collected through Israel’s national population database and at central borders and checkpoints.

Building Israel’s technological superiority:

Aside from helping Israel’s surveillance services, Silicon Valley also provides crucial support to Israel’s business sector, helping it maintain and develop a modern, high-tech economy.

For example, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have all launched significant cloud computing centers in Israel, providing companies with critical infrastructure for data-driven products and services. Intel is the country’s largest private employer, having begun operations in 1974.

Along with hundreds of other multinational companies, Microsoft hosts its R&D center in Israel and has also launched a chip development center in Haifa. Nvidia, the trillion-dollar chip giant powering the AI ​​revolution, also announced that it is expanding its already large R&D operations in Israel. The list goes on.

Digital colonialism:

It is not surprising that major US-based technology companies cooperate with and invest in Israel and support its genocidal and apartheid activities.

Big Tech companies are the modern East India companies; They are an extension of US imperial power. They are colonizing the global digital economy and reinforcing the North-South divide. As a result, the United States benefits from ownership of digital infrastructure, knowledge, and resource extraction from the Global South.

But just as the United States and other Western governments are feeling the brunt of the legal action taken against them for the role they played in the Gaza genocide, so too are Western companies feeling the brunt of the legal action taken against them for the role they play in the Gaza genocide.

 American technology giants bear clear responsibility for what is happening in Palestine. They are on the wrong side of history, just as they were in apartheid South Africa. With enough public pressure, Big Tech’s collaborators will soon have their day in court.