Archiv: Aman (Agaf ha-Modi´in) / military spy agency Israel


24.11.2025 - 19:22 [ Middle East Eye ]

Israel’s army chief dismisses officers for ‘failure to prevent’ 7 October attack

(November 23, 2025)

Israeli chief of staff Eyal Zamir on Sunday dismissed senior officers in the military over „failure to prevent“ the 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas, local media reported.

Zamir ended the service of several retired generals, including the former Military Intelligence chief Aharon Haliva, former Southern Command chief Yaron Finkelman, and former Operations Directorate chief Oded Basyuk, according to the public broadcaster KAN.

The report said that Zamir also dismissed Gaza Division reserve commander Avi Rosenfeld, while the division’s intelligence officer was expelled from the army altogether.

25.09.2025 - 21:45 [ +972 Magazine ]

Microsoft revokes cloud services from Israel’s Unit 8200, following +972 exposé

Microsoft has terminated the Israeli army’s access to technology it was using to store vast troves of intelligence on Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and Gaza, the tech giant informed Israel’s Defense Ministry in a letter late last week, according to the Guardian.

The decision followed an exposé last month by +972 Magazine, Local Call, and the Guardian revealing how Unit 8200, the Israeli army’s elite cyber warfare agency, was housing intercepted recordings of millions of mobile phone calls by Palestinians on Microsoft’s cloud platform, Azure, creating one of the world’s most intrusive collections of surveillance data over a single population group. According to the joint investigation, this data has been used over the past two years to plan lethal airstrikes in Gaza, as well as to arrest Palestinians in the West Bank.

25.09.2025 - 21:21 [ theGuardian.com ]

Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its technology in mass surveillance of Palestinians

The decision to cut off Unit 8200’s ability to use some of its technology results directly from an investigation published by the Guardian last month. It revealed how Azure was being used to store and process the trove of Palestinian communications in a mass surveillance programme.

In a joint investigation with the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call, the Guardian revealed how Microsoft and Unit 8200 had worked together on a plan to move large volumes of sensitive intelligence material into Azure.

15.09.2025 - 23:49 [ Nachdenkseiten ]

Zum Völkermord gezwungen?

Der Vernichtungskrieg gegen die Hamas und Gaza sei alternativlos und aus Notwehr erfolgt, behauptet Israels Ministerpräsident Netanjahu. Was aber, wenn sich der Terroranschlag vom 7. Oktober 2023 hätte verhindern lassen? Vieles spricht dafür, dass seine rechtsgerichtete Regierung die Dinge hat geschehen lassen. Müsste die Geschichte dann nicht umgeschrieben werden, fragt sich Ralf Wurzbacher.

12.08.2025 - 13:07 [ Al Jazeera ]

‘Israel killed Anas al-Sharif simply because he was a journalist’

Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham has alleged that Israel’s military intelligence created a special unit to help justify attacks in Gaza, including the killing of journalists.

“After October 7, a team called the ‘Legitimization Cell’ was established in AMAN,” Abraham said in a post on X.

“Intelligence personnel searched for information to provide ‘legitimisation’ for the army’s actions in Gaza, failed Hamas launches, use of human shields, exploitation of the civilian population.

09.08.2025 - 17:45 [ +972 Magazine ]

Microsoft storing Israeli intelligence trove used to attack Palestinians

Unit 8200, roughly equivalent in function to the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), has transferred audio files of millions of calls by Palestinians in the occupied territories onto Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, Azure, operationalizing what is likely one of the world’s largest and most intrusive collections of surveillance data over a single population group. This is according to interviews with 11 Microsoft and Israeli intelligence sources in addition to a cache of leaked internal Microsoft documents obtained by the Guardian.

In a meeting at Microsoft’s headquarters in Seattle in late 2021, the then-head of Unit 8200, Yossi Sariel, won the support of the tech giant’s CEO, Satya Nadella, to develop a customized and segregated area within Azure that has facilitated the army’s mass surveillance project. According to the sources, Sariel approached Microsoft because the scope of Israel’s intelligence on millions of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza is so vast that it cannot be stored on military servers alone.

05.08.2025 - 07:04 [ New York Times ]

Israel Knew Hamas’s Attack Plan More Than a Year Ago

(November 30, 2023)

The document circulated widely among Israeli military and intelligence leaders, but experts determined that an attack of that scale and ambition was beyond Hamas’s capabilities, according to documents and officials. It is unclear whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other top political leaders saw the document, as well.

(…)

Last year, shortly after the document was obtained, officials in the Israeli military’s Gaza division, which is responsible for defending the border with Gaza, said that Hamas’s intentions were unclear.

“It is not yet possible to determine whether the plan has been fully accepted and how it will be manifested,” read a military assessment reviewed by The Times.

26.07.2025 - 05:13 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

„Wir können, also lasst es uns tun“: Über die Mentalität im elektronischen Polizeistaat

(12. November 2016)

Kontext B.N.D.-Gesetz: Die Allermeisten haben weder eine Ahnung was Totalüberwachung aka Massenüberwachung tatsächlich bedeutet, noch welcher Gefahr auch sie dabei ausgesetzt sind, selbst wenn sie sich noch so sehr anpassen und die technischen Möglichkeiten im 21. Jahrhundert über den privaten Konsum hinaus ignorieren. Welche Skrupellosigkeit und geistig-moralischen Verfall die Apparatschiks des elektronischen Polizeistaats bei ihrem Tun an den Tag legen, während gleichzeitig seit Jahren reguläre Polizei, Justiz und Rechtsstaat systemisch verschwinden, zeigen Berichte von Aussteigern, allerdings nicht aus Deutschland.

(…)

Aus Interviews mit AussteigerInnen der mutmaßlich eng mit den Mitgliedern und Mitgliedern der „Technischen Aufklärung“ des Bundesnachrichtendienstes eingebetteten israelischen Einheit 8200, veröffentlicht im „Guardian“ im September 2014:

„Ich nahm eine Funktion an, in der Leute ´Ziele´ genannt wurden, und diese Leute die uns wirklich interessieren sind in keinem Sinne Terroristen, sondern eher generell normale Menschen – die uns interessieren wegen ihrer Funktionen, so dass wir mehr Geheimdienstinformationen über sie bekommen können und mehr Zugang erzielen. Wir nutzen unsere Möglichkeiten über diese Menschen zu unserem Vorteil, um es uns leicht zu machen. Wir nutzen die Einwirkung / die Wucht („impact) die wir auf deren Leben haben. Manchmal beinhaltet dies das Leben, oder die Seele einer Person wirklich zu verletzen. Ich meine Erpressung, bei Dingen die sie vor Leuten um sich herum verbergen müssen. Ich kann Menschen wirklich das Leben zerstören. Es gab mir das Gefühl omnipotent zu sein.

26.07.2025 - 05:08 [ theGuardian.com ]

‘Any Palestinian is exposed to monitoring by the Israeli Big Brother’

(12.9.2014)

I assumed a role in which people are called “targets”, and those people who really interest us are in no sense terrorists, but rather generally normative people – who interest us because of their roles, so that we can obtain more intelligence and achieve greater access. We take advantage of the capabilities that we have over these people in order to put ourselves at ease. We take advantage of the impact that we have on their lives. Sometimes it involves truly harming a person’s life, or their soul. I mean extortion whereby they must hide things from people around them. It can really screw up their lives. It made me feel omnipotent.

18.06.2025 - 00:17 [ Tehran Times ]

IRGC strikes hit Aman, Mossad headquarters in Israel

Images that briefly circulated in Hebrew-language media—before being swiftly removed—show the impact site belonged to Israel’s military intelligence. The visuals confirm that a highly sensitive security installation was directly hit.

According to Hebrew media sources, there is a strong possibility that secret backup sites linked to Israel’s Unit 8200—an elite electronic surveillance and intelligence division—were completely destroyed in Herzliya.

30.04.2025 - 15:37 [ New York Times ]

Israel Knew Hamas’s Attack Plan More Than a Year Ago

(November 30, 2023)

The document circulated widely among Israeli military and intelligence leaders, but experts determined that an attack of that scale and ambition was beyond Hamas’s capabilities, according to documents and officials. It is unclear whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other top political leaders saw the document, as well.

(…)

Last year, shortly after the document was obtained, officials in the Israeli military’s Gaza division, which is responsible for defending the border with Gaza, said that Hamas’s intentions were unclear.

“It is not yet possible to determine whether the plan has been fully accepted and how it will be manifested,” read a military assessment reviewed by The Times.

27.02.2025 - 20:34 [ Times of Israel ]

IDF’s Oct. 7 probes show it misread Hamas for years, left southern Israel utterly vulnerable

The investigation into the decision-making process made by top officials on the eve of the attack found that the IDF identified five signs of unusual Hamas activity the night before the terror group’s October 7 onslaught, but believed they did not indicate an imminent attack.
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This investigation also found that the IDF’s conduct, decision-making, and intelligence assessments on the night between October 6 and 7 were based on the result of years of false assessments about Hamas.

As a result, intelligence officials on all levels failed to provide a warning for what would come.

25.02.2025 - 22:25 [ Times of Israel ]

Leaked IDF probe: Only one soldier was guarding Nahal Oz outpost on Oct. 7, Hamas had studied base layout for years

Hamas had studied Nahal Oz from afar for years prior to launching the deadly assault and was intimately familiar with the layout of the base, including “where every room was,” the report says. It adds that the terror group knew that the base would be operating at a reduced capacity due to the Jewish holiday of Simhat Torah, which fell on a Saturday that year.
(…)
The probe also reportedly addresses the impact that the incessant rocket fire had on the devastation inside the military outpost, as terrorists were able to easily kill large groups of soldiers who had gathered in bomb shelters.

25.02.2025 - 21:23 [ New York Times ]

Israel Knew Hamas’s Attack Plan More Than a Year Ago

(November 30, 2023)

The document circulated widely among Israeli military and intelligence leaders, but experts determined that an attack of that scale and ambition was beyond Hamas’s capabilities, according to documents and officials. It is unclear whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other top political leaders saw the document, as well.

(…)

Last year, shortly after the document was obtained, officials in the Israeli military’s Gaza division, which is responsible for defending the border with Gaza, said that Hamas’s intentions were unclear.

“It is not yet possible to determine whether the plan has been fully accepted and how it will be manifested,” read a military assessment reviewed by The Times.

03.11.2024 - 13:47 [ Anadolu ]

Netanyahu arrest warrant delayed in ICC for 5 months

(October 29, 2024)

Delays in the Palestine investigation trace back to 2015 when former ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda initiated a preliminary examination. Although the investigation met the necessary criteria in 2019, it was postponed due to jurisdiction debates over Palestinian territories. The formal investigation began in March 2021, yet no meaningful progress has been made, further delaying requests against Netanyahu and Gallant.

03.11.2024 - 13:10 [ Guardian ]

Spying, hacking and intimidation: Israel’s nine-year ‘war’ on the ICC exposed

(May 28, 2024)

Thanks to their comprehensive access to Palestinian telecoms infrastructure, the sources said, intelligence operatives could capture the calls without installing spyware on the ICC official’s devices.

“If Fatou Bensouda spoke to any person in the West Bank or Gaza, then that phone call would enter [intercept] systems,” one source said. Another said there was no hesitation internally over spying on the prosecutor, adding: “With Bensouda, she’s black and African, so who cares?”

The surveillance system did not capture calls between ICC officials and anyone outside Palestine. However, multiple sources said the system required the active selection of the overseas phone numbers of ICC officials whose calls Israeli intelligence agencies decided to listen to.

According to one Israeli source, a large whiteboard in an Israeli intelligence department contained the names of about 60 people under surveillance – half of them Palestinians and half from other countries, including UN officials and ICC personnel.

In The Hague, Bensouda and her senior staff were alerted by security advisers and via diplomatic channels that Israel was monitoring their work.

04.09.2024 - 11:16 [ New York Times ]

Israel Knew Hamas’s Attack Plan More Than a Year Ago

(November 30, 2023)

The document circulated widely among Israeli military and intelligence leaders, but experts determined that an attack of that scale and ambition was beyond Hamas’s capabilities, according to documents and officials. It is unclear whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other top political leaders saw the document, as well.

(…)

Last year, shortly after the document was obtained, officials in the Israeli military’s Gaza division, which is responsible for defending the border with Gaza, said that Hamas’s intentions were unclear.

“It is not yet possible to determine whether the plan has been fully accepted and how it will be manifested,” read a military assessment reviewed by The Times.

29.03.2024 - 21:00 [ micchiato / Mastodon.social ]

“#Israel’s apartheid army detained, interrogated and beat Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha, a graduate of Syracuse University, with the assistance of Corsight’s facial recognition technology ….

Giora Eiland, a retired Israeli major general, serves on the board of directors of Corsight …. He wrote: ‘The entire population of #Gaza will either move to #Egypt or move to the Gulf.’

The retired general also recommended targeting civilian vehicles in Gaza.” #writingcommunity

29.03.2024 - 20:51 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

“Wir können, also lasst es uns tun”: Über die Mentalität im elektronischen Polizeistaat

(12. November 2016)

Aus Interviews mit AussteigerInnen der mutmaßlich eng mit den Mitgliedern und Mitgliedern der “Technischen Aufklärung” des Bundesnachrichtendienstes eingebetteten israelischen Einheit 8200, veröffentlicht im “Guardian” im September 2014:

“Ich nahm eine Funktion an, in der Leute ´Ziele´ genannt wurden, und diese Leute die uns wirklich interessieren sind in keinem Sinne Terroristen, sondern eher generell normale Menschen – die uns interessieren wegen ihrer Funktionen, so dass wir mehr Geheimdienstinformationen über sie bekommen können und mehr Zugang erzielen. Wir nutzen unsere Möglichkeiten über diese Menschen zu unserem Vorteil, um es uns leicht zu machen. Wir nutzen die Einwirkung / die Wucht (“impact) die wir auf deren Leben haben. Manchmal beinhaltet dies das Leben, oder die Seele einer Person wirklich zu verletzen. Ich meine Erpressung, bei Dingen die sie vor Leuten um sich herum verbergen müssen. Ich kann Menschen wirklich das Leben zerstören. Es gab mir das Gefühl omnipotent zu sein.

Als ich diesen Job begann, war ich überrascht von dem Ausmaß meiner Verantwortung. Ich hatte das Gefühl über wichtige Dinge ein Mitspracherecht zu haben. Ich konnte Dinge in Gang setzen, die das Leben (Anm.: es folgt die Bezeichnung der ausspionierten Ortsansässigen) betrafen – ich konnte meine Einheit dazu bringen alle möglichen Maßnahmen zu ergreifen. Die Einstellung war ´Warum nicht? Wir können, also lasst es uns tun.´ Ich dachte, dass das, was ich tun konnte verrückt war. Wir waren die Chefs.”

Ein ex-Spion von 8200 berichtet, wie Soldaten unter seiner Ausbildung systematisch moralisch korrumpiert wurden, um sie zu “vergiften” und die Skrupellosigkeit im Apparat weiter auf Standard zu halten. Bei Razzien “beschlagnahmte” persönliche Gegenstände von Individuen – “Photos von Kindern, Uhren, Familienfotos, Fussballtrophäen, Bücher”, bis hin zu Juwelen – wurden nicht nur zur Mitnahme angeboten, sondern in den Ausbildungsräumen zur Schau gestellt.

“Die Idee war die Auszubildenden (“students”) zu vergiften.“

(…)

Die einzige Schlussfolgerung die gezogen wurde, dass es in dieser Einheit so etwas wie einen illegalen Befehl nicht gibt. Es sind nicht wir, die entscheiden was moralisch ist und was nicht. Heute erkenne ich, dass dies das ist, was auch der Bomberpilot sagt: `Es ist nicht an mir zu sagen was moralisch ist und was nicht.` Jeder reicht die Verantwortung an Andere weiter.”

29.03.2024 - 20:34 [ The Guardian / Twitter ]

‘Any Palestinian is exposed to monitoring by the Israeli Big Brother’

(Sep 12, 2014)

29.03.2024 - 20:29 [ New York Times ]

Israel Deploys Expansive Facial Recognition Program in Gaza

(March 27, 2024)

The expansive and experimental effort is being used to conduct mass surveillance there, collecting and cataloging the faces of Palestinians without their knowledge or consent, according to Israeli intelligence officers, military officials and soldiers.

The technology was initially used in Gaza to search for Israelis who were taken hostage by Hamas during the Oct. 7 cross-border raids, the intelligence officials said.

29.03.2024 - 20:24 [ Electronic Intifada ]

Firm helping Israel spy on Gaza includes genocide advocate

(28.03.2024)

There is little complaint from western politicians. Corsight’s complicity isn’t seen as an urgent matter.

Nor, for that matter, do most of these politicians give sufficient attention to Israel’s genocidal policies in Gaza.

Unmentioned by the Times is that Giora Eiland, a retired Israeli major general, serves on the board of directors of Corsight.

When Eiland joined the board in January 2021, Igal Raichelgauz, chairman and founder of the Cortica Group, stated, “We are excited to add Giora to the company board, we believe that due to his extensive experience in the national security field, Corsight will continue growing into new markets and territories and lead the face recognition market in Israel and in the world.” Corsight is a subsidiary of Cortica, a firm focused on artificial intelligence.

Eiland is a proponent of the ethnic cleansing of the occupied territory of Gaza.

14.03.2024 - 16:45 [ NewArab.com ]

UK will continue UNRWA funding suspension despite Gaza famine

The UK government will continue to suspend funding to Palestinian relief works agency UNRWA, the Minister for Development and Africa Andrew Mitchell has said, despite famine gripping Gaza and crippling food shortages.

The US, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Finland, Australia and the Netherlands will also continue their freeze to critical life saving aid to the UN aid agency for Palestinians until an interim report about Israel allegations that UNRWA aid workers were involved in Hamas‘s 7 October attacks is released, the minister said.

08.03.2024 - 22:41 [ CBC.ca ]

Canada confirms it will resume funding United Nations relief agency for Palestinians

anada suspended funding to UNRWA in January after Israel alleged 12 employees of the aid agency were involved in some capacity in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

CBC News first reported on Tuesday that the government intended to resume funding after receiving an interim report from the United Nations investigation of Israel‘s allegations.

25.02.2024 - 02:44 [ NewArab.com ]

Ignoring ICJ, Israel accelerates genocide by targeting UNRWA and Gaza‘s healthcare

It ruled on several provisional measures, including that Israel must abstain from genocidal acts, bring accountability for the normalised genocidal rhetoric from state level to civil society, and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.

But just hours after the verdict, not only did Israel resume its indiscriminate attacks, it took it even further by going after UNRWA, the UN agency that serves as a lifeline for millions of people in Gaza.

22.02.2024 - 20:04 [ theNationalnews.com ]

US says it cannot independently verify Israel‘s UNRWA claims

The intelligence report‘s findings are in stark contrast to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken‘s remarks in January, in which he said that the accusations against UNRWA were “highly, highly credible”.

The Journal also reported that Israel has not “shared the raw intelligence behind its assessments with the US” despite the strong security relationship between the two countries.

Israel has shared a dossier of sorts outlining its accusations, alongside details of where their evidence stems from, with the US and several western news organisations.

22.02.2024 - 19:46 [ DrALJONES / mastodon.social ]

A US intelligence report has said that Israel‘s claims that UNRWA staff took part in Oct 7 „cannot be independently verified“, & that it had “low confidence” in the allegation.

Major UNRWA donors, incl the US, have frozen vital funds bcz of Israel‘s allegations.

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini says „the UN has never, never, ever received any written dossier, despite our repeated call.“

14.02.2024 - 12:58 [ BBC News (World) / Twitter ]

They were Israel‘s eyes on the border – but their Hamas warnings went unheard

(15.01.2024)

14.02.2024 - 12:40 [ New York Times ]

Israel Knew Hamas’s Attack Plan More Than a Year Ago

(30.11.2023)

The document circulated widely among Israeli military and intelligence leaders, but experts determined that an attack of that scale and ambition was beyond Hamas’s capabilities, according to documents and officials. It is unclear whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other top political leaders saw the document, as well.

(…)

Last year, shortly after the document was obtained, officials in the Israeli military’s Gaza division, which is responsible for defending the border with Gaza, said that Hamas’s intentions were unclear.

“It is not yet possible to determine whether the plan has been fully accepted and how it will be manifested,” read a military assessment reviewed by The Times.

06.02.2024 - 11:45 [ UN Spokesperson / Twitter ]

@antonioguterres, in consultation @UNLazzarini, has appointed an independent review group to assess whether @UNRWA is doing everything within its power to ensure neutrality & respond to allegations of serious breaches:

06.02.2024 - 11:29 [ Tory Fibs / Twitter ]

Breaking .. Channel 4 have finally been shown the dossier for Israel’s claims that UNRWA staff were behind Oct. 7th. Channel 4 concludes that “Israel provides NO evidence to support this claim”.

06.02.2024 - 11:21 [ France24.com ]

As donors suspend critical funding to UNRWA, allegations against staff remain murky

But Israel refuses to share either its evidence or the intelligence dossier – a summary of which was seen by FRANCE 24 – with UNRWA, posing a challenge for the UN agency to complete its inquiry.

06.02.2024 - 11:14 [ New York Times ]

UNRWA Set to Lose $65 Million, Documents Show

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the main aid agency in Gaza, is set to lose $65 million by the end of February as donors’ funding cuts begin to kick in, according to internal accounting documents reviewed by The New York Times.