Palestine

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/28327147

The international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement are calling on people to cancel Game Pass subscriptions, avoid Microsoft-owned video game properties such as Minecraft and Call Of Duty, and boycott all Microsoft Gaming and Xbox-branded products in protest at the company’s reported business connections with the Israeli military.

The call follows allegations this January about the Israeli military’s usage of Microsoft’s Azure cloud technology and artificial intelligence products in the course of its bombardment and invasion of Gaza.

According to a joint investigation between the Guardian, Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and Hebrew-language outlet Local Call, with additional reporting from Drop Site News, Microsoft have “deepened” their relationship with Israel’s defence establishment since 7th October 2023, when several Palestinian militant groups struck across the border and massacred over a thousand people. Israel responded to the attack by mounting a ground offensive and airstrikes that have destroyed much of Gaza and killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/28328389

A Microsoft employee disrupted the company’s 50th anniversary event to protest its use of AI.

“Shame on you,” said Microsoft employee Ibtihal Aboussad, speaking directly to Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman. “You are a war profiteer. Stop using AI for genocide. Stop using AI for genocide in our region. You have blood on your hands. All of Microsoft has blood on its hands. How dare you all celebrate when Microsoft is killing children. Shame on you all.”

Sources at Microsoft tell The Verge that shortly after Aboussad was ushered out of Microsoft’s event, she sent an email to a number of email distribution lists that contain hundreds or thousands of Microsoft employees. Here is Aboussad’s email in full

Distributed Denial of Secrets is a big info dump site where hacks get dumped. In case anyone was curious here's one of their dumps related to Palestine and Israel.

Approximately 100,000 files released by the hacker group Handala, allegedly taken from the Israel Police. In their release notes, the hackers mistakenly claimed they were releasing 350,000 files. Israeli media says the files contain: "email addresses, weapon licenses, police officers records including personal numbers, classified documents, details of suspects and people convicted of crimes, and employment approvals for sex offenders." Handala claims the files contain personnel files of police officers, including psychological profiles.

Handala has been previously tied to Iranian state actors, and is known for their wiper campaigns. Israel Police denied they had been hacked in a statement on social media, saying "that a breach occurred in third-party entities that receive information from the police," and that their investigation is ongoing.

https://archive.is/2025.03.27-232253/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-03-27/ty-article-magazine/.premium/in-one-of-the-gaza-wars-darkest-nights-the-idf-killed-nearly-300-women-and-children/00000195-d949-da7e-adb7-f9d9e5760000

I am convinced that US politicians are scared of Israel. For what reason, I don’t know why. I hope you can explain.

Evidence:

a) 15-Jan-25: Trump/Witkoff forced Netanyahu to accept ceasefire deal:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/arab-official-trump-envoy-swayed-netanyahu-more-in-one-meeting-than-biden-did-all-year/

b) 5-Feb-25: Netanyahu is unhappy with the peace in Gaza, visits Trump in the White House. Then after meeting Netanyahu, Trump for the first time, comes up with the “Gazans displacement plan, and developing the Riveria there”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNpNyYgI2g8

Just watch Trump’s speech there, it’s like he is the puppet and Netanyahu is the puppet master.

Netanyahu is happy with Trump’s plan of evicting Gazans, calling it a bold plan.

c) 17-Feb-25: Witkoff says there will be a phase 2 of the ceasefire (and eventual end to the war),

going against the wishes of Netanyahu who wanted to extend phase 1 of the ceasefire to get all the hostages out, without entering phase 2 (which is what Hamas wanted):

https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-envoy-says-there-will-absolutely-be-stage-2-of-ceasefire-as-talks-continue/

d) 23-Feb-25: Witkoff says the US wants to extend phase 1 of the ceasefire:

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-envoy-witkoff-seeking-extension-phase-1-israel-hamas-ceasefire-deal-head-back-middle-east

e) Trump bypasses Israel, holds direct talks with Hamas, angering Israel:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-defends-direct-us-hamas-talks-as-israel-seethes-attempts-to-sabotage-them/

f) 09-Mar-25: US hostage negotiator Adam Boehler says “US is not an agent of Israel. It has its own interests”:

https://www.axios.com/2025/03/09/adam-boehler-hamas-israel-talks

g) 13-Mar-25: Adam Boehler removed from his position of hostage negotiations:

https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rjrqhpe2kg

And after Hamas’s rejection of extending phase 1, and on its insistence to follow the original ceasefire agreement of entering phase 2; the Israelis ended the ceasefire and started the war in Gaza again. They also said they informed and gave notice to the US that they were restarting the war.

By Matt Shuham Mar 19, 2025, 05:28 PM EDT

“Hundreds of Jewish professors, scholars and students have signed a letter condemning the Trump administration for canceling $400 million in federal funding to Columbia University and threatening other universities.”

As horrifying images and accounts of maimed children and grieving mothers circulate online, media outlets in the U.S. spent the day trying to make sense of one of the most brutal single-day bombings of Israel’s war on Palestinians in Gaza.

Some explained Israel’s deadly airstrikes as a natural result of “fruitless negotiations” with Hamas, or as a bargaining tactic to “increase pressure on Hamas.” Other outlets simply repeated, without question or skepticism, Israeli and U.S. government claims that blame Hamas for the strikes

The first phase of the ceasefire, which took effect on January 19, included an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners. But in that span, Israel continued military operations in Gaza, killing more than 150 Palestinians, including in a bombing that took the lives of journalists and aid workers. And at the start of the second phase on March 2, Israel continued to violate the agreement, refusing to withdraw its soldiers from the Philadelphi Corridor, a crucial crossing point between Gaza and Egypt.

Instead, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went back on the deal and presented Hamas with an alternate plan: the continued military occupation of the territory, the continued release of hostages, and setting aside talks toward a permanent ceasefire.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that a wave of air strikes on Gaza is “only the beginning” of a military campaign against Hamas.

The strikes, which killed at least 404 Palestinians and wounded over 560 others, have shattered a fragile ceasefire that began on January 19. Netanyahu stated that future ceasefire negotiations will “only take place under fire” and that Israel will continue to fight to achieve its goals of releasing hostages, eliminating Hamas, and ensuring Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel. The conflict has been ongoing, with talks on a second stage of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal stalled due to Israel’s insistence on extending the first phase until mid-April.

Reporting from Jordan’s Amman, Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut said that while Israel has accused Hamas of rejecting various proposals made by negotiators, talks had been stalled after Netanyahu refused to begin negotiations on phase two of the ceasefire deal on February 6.

“Several Israeli analysts, several within the political opposition and several within Netanyahu’s own government said that this was the plan all along – a resumption of the fighting, to go back to full-scale war,” Salhut said.

“And in fact, there’s a new army chief of staff, one who said that 2025 is going to be a year of war – noting that Israel still has a lot of goals to accomplish when it comes to the Gaza Strip, meaning that they are in no way finished with their military action.”

Israel’s 18-month war on Gaza has levelled much of the enclave, reducing homes, hospitals and schools to rubble.

Israeli forces have so far killed more than 48,000 people in the territory, according to Palestinian health authorities.