Israel made Google and Amazon use secret payments to dodge legal orders: Report
When Google and Amazon negotiated a massive $1.2bn cloud computing deal in 2021 with the Israeli government, a secret arrangement known as the “winking mechanism” was included, according to a new joint investigation by The Guardian and the Israeli publications +972 Magazine and Local Call.
The secret warning system obligates the companies to “send signals hidden in payments to the Israeli government, tipping it off when it has disclosed Israeli data to foreign courts or investigators”, the investigation found.
The payments, under the deal known as Project Nimbus, correspond to the telephone dialling code of the foreign country, and range between 1,000 and 9,999 shekels (US $307 to $3,066).
“Israeli officials inserted the controls to counter a series of anticipated threats. They feared Google or Amazon might bow to employee or shareholder pressure and withdraw Israel’s access to its products and services if linked to human rights abuses in the occupied Palestinian territories,” the report stated.
Both Google and Amazon’s cloud businesses have denied evading any legal obligations, the outlets reported.
“Legal experts, including several former US prosecutors, said the arrangement was highly unusual and carried risks for the companies as the coded messages could violate legal obligations in the US, where the companies are headquartered, to keep a subpoena secret,” the report stated.
Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, all in on the genocide. US government and US companies all making money off genocide.
Existing User Log In
New User Registration
Register for a free account to gain full access to the VGChartz Network and join our thriving community.
