Newly uncovered internal documents reveal that Google was fully aware of the dangers posed by its controversial partnership with the Israeli government before signing the now-infamous Project Nimbus cloud computing deal in 2021. Despite this, the tech giant proceeded—effectively giving Israel powerful surveillance tools with little to no oversight.
Published by The Intercept, two internal Google documents show the company understood the risks of handing over its cutting-edge AI and cloud technologies to a regime long accused of systematic human rights violations and war crimes.
But even more disturbing is this: the agreement may obligate Google to resist international criminal investigations into how Israel uses Google’s technology — essentially shielding war crimes from accountability.
What Is Project Nimbus?
Project Nimbus is a $1.2 billion cloud computing and artificial intelligence deal between the Israeli government and two U.S. tech giants: Google and Amazon. Announced by Israel’s Finance Ministry in 2021, the agreement claims to offer local cloud infrastructure to the Israeli state.
However, beneath the surface, Nimbus is deeply embedded in Israel’s military-industrial complex. It provides the Israeli army and intelligence agencies with tools such as:
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- AI-powered facial recognition
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- Emotion analysis and object tracking
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- Mass surveillance capabilities against Palestinians
These tools, combined with the lack of external oversight, pose a grave threat to Palestinian civil liberties and human rights.
Google’s Limited Oversight — By Design
The first internal document reveals that Google will have “extremely limited access” to how Israel uses its services. The company cannot restrict how Israeli military or intelligence agencies store or process data, even if used to commit human rights abuses.
Worse, the contract is governed entirely by Israeli law — meaning it is not subject to international jurisdiction, including the International Criminal Court, which Israel (like the U.S.) does not recognise.
If international courts or foreign governments attempt to investigate, Google is required to notify Israel immediately and resist cooperation, even if it places the company in direct conflict with international law.
A second internal memo reveals a disturbing level of collusion between Google and Israeli security agencies:
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- A classified internal “Nimbus team” within Google — comprised of Israeli citizens with security clearances — was created to handle confidential communications from the Israeli state.
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- This team is expected to undergo joint training with Israeli military and intelligence officials and participate in war-game simulations focused on “state-level threats.”
Additionally, the contract allows Israel to extend the project for up to 23 years, while severely restricting Google’s ability to exit the deal.
Google’s Own Advisors Warned Against It
The human rights consultancy hired by Google — Business for Social Responsibility — reportedly recommended excluding Israel’s military from access to AI technologies. Google ignored the warning.
International legal experts told The Intercept that this level of awareness makes Google legally vulnerable to complicity in human rights violations.
“They are aware of the risk. Yet they’ve structured the contract to blind themselves intentionally,” said Leon Castellanos-Jankiewicz from the Asser Institute in The Hague.
How Was Nimbus Used in the Gaza Genocide?
Investigations by +972 Magazine and Local Call have exposed how Israel has used AI-driven tools to wage a data-fuelled war on Gaza. Among them:
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- “Lavender” and “Gospel” – AI tools used to identify tens of thousands of Gazans as “targets” with minimal human oversight
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- Automated airstrike targeting systems, described by sources as a “kill factory”, functioned as industrial-scale assassination engines
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- Project Nimbus was integral to the technical infrastructure that enabled these tools to operate at scale
According to tech workers and whistleblowers, Google Cloud was used as the backbone for many of these capabilities.
“This is mass murder by machine,” said one AI ethics specialist who reviewed the systems in use.
Global Silence and Ethical Collapse
Despite growing worker dissent inside Google and multiple campaigns demanding it cancel Project Nimbus, Google continues to suppress internal criticism, according to whistleblowers.
A recent report by TIME also confirmed that Google negotiated an expansion of its defence partnership with Israel during the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
“They admit they can’t monitor how Israel is using their services,” said Alessandro Accorsi from the International Crisis Group.“This puts it squarely in the category of dual-use technology — with military and civilian applications — that should have been vetted under arms export laws.”
Final Word
The revelations from The Intercept and others confirm what many Palestinians have warned for years: Big Tech is not neutral. When corporations like Google and Amazon enable regimes under investigation for war crimes — and go as far as to shield them from accountability — they cease being service providers and become active participants in oppression.
This is not just a tech scandal. It’s a human rights emergency.
