LONDON: A joint investigation has revealed that Israel required Google and Amazon to use a covert signal system to alert its government when foreign authorities accessed Israeli data stored on their platforms.
According to a report published by The Guardian in collaboration with +972 Magazine and Local Call, the system, known as the “winking mechanism”, was built into Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud-computing contract signed in 2021 between the Israeli government and the two US tech giants.
The arrangement reportedly allowed Israel to receive secret notifications when Google or Amazon were legally compelled by foreign courts or law enforcement agencies to hand over data, even if the companies were bound by gag orders preventing disclosure.
Citing leaked documents from Israel’s finance ministry, the report claims the mechanism used coded payments as signals. These transfers, described as “special compensation,” would correspond to the dialling code of the country that made the data request — for instance, 1,000 shekels if the request came from the United States (+1) or 3,900 shekels for Italy (+39).
If gag orders prevented even that level of communication, the companies were to pay a flat sum of 100,000 shekels (around $30,000) to the Israeli government. The payments were to be made within 24 hours of the data transfer, the report states.
The Guardian said Israel inserted this condition after concerns that its data, once uploaded to foreign cloud systems, might be accessed by overseas investigators or governments. “Google and Amazon’s cloud businesses routinely comply with requests from police, prosecutors and security services to hand over customer data,” the investigation noted. “But Israel feared losing control of its data to foreign jurisdictions.”
Project Nimbus, launched in 2021, was designed to provide Israel’s government and military with artificial intelligence tools, data analytics, and cloud infrastructure. The deal has faced growing controversy, particularly amid Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which UN experts and several countries have described as a potential genocide.
The Guardian report also highlighted internal protests within Google’s workforce in the United States. In April last year, employees in New York, California and Seattle staged demonstrations, calling on the company to withdraw from the Nimbus contract over human rights concerns.
Beyond the secret coding system, Israeli officials reportedly pushed for additional protections within the agreement. They feared that rights groups or court rulings in Europe might pressure the companies to suspend services to Israel if their technology was linked to violations in Gaza or the West Bank.
To prevent this, the Nimbus contract reportedly included clauses barring Google and Amazon from cutting off Israel’s access to their platforms, even if future policy changes deemed Israeli operations in breach of company terms. Breaches of this clause could trigger financial penalties or legal action.
“The agreement prohibits the companies from revoking or restricting Israel’s access to their cloud platforms due to policy changes or human rights concerns,” the report quoted from the leaked documents. An Israeli official cited by The Guardian said there would be “no restrictions” on the kind of information, including military and intelligence data that could be stored on the platforms.
The documents further stated that Israel “is entitled to migrate to the cloud or generate in the cloud any content or data it wishes,” ensuring complete freedom over the use of the cloud systems.
The Israeli finance ministry declined to confirm details of the investigation but told The Guardian that Google and Amazon are “bound by stringent contractual obligations that safeguard Israel’s vital interests.” The ministry added that the contracts were confidential and that it would not “legitimise the article’s claims by disclosing private commercial terms.”
The revelations come as scrutiny grows over Western technology companies’ involvement in conflicts and surveillance operations. Last month, Microsoft disabled cloud and AI services used by an Israeli Defence Ministry unit after internal reviews found early evidence linking them to surveillance activity in Gaza and the West Bank.
However, under the terms of the Nimbus deal, Google and Amazon are reportedly barred from taking similar action. “Doing so would constitute discrimination against the Israeli government and could trigger penalties,” the investigation said.
Critics of Project Nimbus argue that it has blurred the line between civilian and military applications of cloud technology. Supporters within Israel, however, describe it as vital for modernising government infrastructure and ensuring digital independence from foreign interference.
While neither Google nor Amazon has publicly addressed the allegations, both companies have previously stated that they comply with applicable laws and maintain “robust transparency and oversight mechanisms.”
The revelations now raise pressing questions about the balance between state sovereignty, privacy, and corporate accountability and how far global tech firms are willing to go to protect the interests of their government clients.
