The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today urged community members to call on Google to stop providing the Israeli military with AI resources which could be used in the commission of war crimes and genocide in Gaza.
Google has reportedly provided the Israeli military with access to its latest artificial intelligence (AI) technology from the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza. Shortly after the beginning of the war, a Google employee in its cloud division reportedly escalated requests for Israel’s defense ministry to have increased access to the company’s AI tools The defense ministry reportedly wanted to expand usage of Google’s Vertex, which applies AI algorithms to a client’s own data. An employee at Google reportedly warned that if the company did not give Israel’s military more access, it would risk losing out to cloud rival Amazon. Under the $1.2bn “Project Nimbus” partnership, both Google and Amazon already provide cloud computing and AI services to Israel’s government and army. The nature of the Israeli military’s use of the AI tools is not known.
In April 2024, many Google employees protested the company’s decision to provide artificial intelligence (AI) technology to the Israeli military. This technology has been used to create a “target bank” of Palestinians and is actively involved in the ongoing genocide in Gaza. As a result of their protests 50 employees —many participants being Muslim— faced unfair retaliation and were fired for demanding that Google cut ties with Israel’s actions and address internal harassment, racism, and discrimination against Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab workers.
SEE: Google facilitated AI tools for Israeli military during war on Gaza, says report | Middle East Eye
Google reportedly worked directly with Israel’s military on AI tools
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“For over 15 months, the Israeli military has been engaged in genocide and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Tens of thousands of men, women and children have been killed, civilian infrastructure has been targeted, and essential resources like medicine, food and water have been denied to the people of Gaza. It is unconscionable that Google reportedly provided this military with technology that helped them carry out these atrocities. Google’s leadership must be transparent about their business dealings with the Israeli military and must stop providing them with technologies that can be used in war crimes.”
The Israeli government’s genocide in Gaza has led to the deaths of more than 45,000 people, including tens of thousands of women and children. According to the medical journal The Lancet, some 186,000 may have died since Israel’s invasion of Gaza began in October 2023. The Lancet also estimates that the death toll caused by direct Israeli military action in Gaza up to June 2024, was 64,260, 41 percent higher than recorded by the Palestinian health officials. The Israeli military has also destroyed countless hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com