Khaberni - An investigation conducted by the British newspaper "The Guardian" and other media outlets revealed that the companies Google and Amazon agreed to Israeli terms that allow it to circumvent legal orders in exchange for signing a cloud service deal worth $1.2 billion.
According to The Guardian in a joint investigation with Israeli magazine "972+" and the Israeli site "Local Call," the massive cloud computing deal signed by the Israeli government with "Google" and "Amazon" in 2021, known as Project Nimbus, allows Israel to receive alerts from the companies if a country's authorities request data for an investigation or legal use.
The investigation clarified that Israel required the companies to use a secret code known as the "wink mechanism" to circumvent foreign legal orders that might compel the companies to hand over Israeli data to authorities of other countries.
The mechanism involves both Google and Amazon informing the Israeli government secretly through the use of encrypted financial payments whenever they are compelled to hand over data relevant to Israel under foreign judicial orders, where the amount paid matches the international dial-code of the concerned country.
If the country is the United States (+1), the companies pay 1000 shekels; if Italy (+39), they pay 3900 shekels, whereas if a publication ban prevents them from disclosing the country's name, they have to transfer 100,000 shekels (about $30,000).
Microsoft Scenario
According to documents leaked from the Israeli Ministry of Finance, these signals are considered a "secret alert" to Israel indicating that its data has been handed over to a foreign entity, despite the companies' legal obligation not to disclose this.
Israel has imposed other restrictions on the companies preventing them from stopping or limiting cloud services provided to the government and military, thereby avoiding a scenario similar to a company Microsoft, which decided to stop access to some of its cloud computing services by the Israeli Ministry of Defense, confirming that it found evidence of the Israeli military using those services to spy on Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the West Bank.
The terms of the agreement stipulate that Israel "has the right to transfer or create any data or content it desires within the cloud," and that the companies cannot suspend or cancel their services even in case of violation of the general terms of use.
Israeli officials say these terms were introduced fearing pressure from employees or shareholders inside the companies urging a halt to dealings with Israel, amid violations in Gaza and the West Bank. They also aim to protect Israel from any potential lawsuits in Europe or the United States due to the use of technology in the occupation or spying.
American legal experts described this mechanism as "a clever loophole but with risks" because it breaches the spirit of U.S. laws that impose secrecy on judicial subpoenas.
For their part, "Google" and "Amazon" vehemently denied the allegations in the investigation, stating they did not circumvent any legal obligations, and that the agreed terms do not violate U.S. or international laws.
A previous investigative report by "Doub Site News" revealed that Israel signed a $45 million contract with Google to conceal the manifestations of starvation in Gaza.
