Sunday, September 28, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

Growing number of Europeans turning away from Israel

The situation in Gaza

Published 5 June 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Under corruption accused Benjamin Netanyahu, the world's trust in Israel has fallen dramatically.
2 minute read

Support for Israel is collapsing in Western Europe. A new poll shows record low confidence and growing anger over the Israeli invasion of Gaza.

After the ceasefire in Gaza collapsed, Israel announced plans to take control of three-quarters of the Palestinian territory in the coming months. Recently, more and more voices have also warned that what is happening is genocide, and that the Israeli plans aim to completely and permanently empty Gaza of Palestinians – so that they can then take control of the area themselves.

At the same time, a new survey by YouGov EuroTrack shows that support for Israel in Western Europe has fallen to record lows since the ground invasion and bombing of Gaza began.

The survey, which covers the UK, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, shows a sharp decline in public opinion toward Israel. Net favorability – the difference between positive and negative ratings – has reached its lowest level since the survey began:

• Germany: -44

• France: -48

• Denmark: -54

Western Europeans’ sympathy for Israel is rapidly declining. Photo: facsimile/Yougov

In Italy (-52) and Spain (-55), the figures are also at record lows or shared lowest levels compared with previous surveys. Only 13–21 percent of respondents in any of the countries have a positive view of Israel, while 63–70 percent express a negative opinion.

Few Western Europeans support Israel’s actions

Support for Israel’s invasion of Gaza is weak. Only 6–16 percent of respondents in the six countries believe that “Israel were right to send troops into Gaza and have generally responded in a proportionate way to the Hamas attacks”. This represents a marginal decline compared with the corresponding survey in October last year.

A minority believe that Israel’s response has been proportionate. Photo: facsimile/Yougov

The perception that Israel’s attacks were justified has also weakened:

• France, Germany, Denmark: 24–25 percent still believe that Israel’s actions are justified.

• United Kingdom: 18 percent

• Italy: 9 percent (lowest)

At the same time, only 5–9 percent believe that Hamas’s initial attacks in late 2023 were justified.

Sympathies shift toward Palestine

Support for Israel has declined significantly. Only 7–18 percent today say they sympathize most with the Israeli side—the lowest or joint lowest rating in five of six countries since the Hamas attacks.

In contrast, between 18 and 33 percent sympathize more with the Palestinian side. In otherwise very pro-Israel Germany, support for each side is now almost evenly divided: 17 percent for Israel, 18 percent for Palestine.

Today, significantly more Europeans sympathize with the Palestinians. Photo: facsimile/Yougov

Confidence in lasting peace in the Middle East is also low among Europeans. Only 15–29 percent believe that both sides will be able to put their differences aside within the next decade.

The French are the most optimistic, with 29 percent believing in a peaceful solution, while the Danes are the most pessimistic, with only 15 percent. Belief in peace has declined by 4–10 percentage points in all countries.

According to analysts, the survey clearly shows how public opinion in Western Europe has shifted since the Hamas attacks in October 2023.

Criticism of Israel’s abuses and war crimes in Gaza is growing rapidly in many countries, while sympathy for Israel appears to be declining as more and more abuses and cases of gross violence against civilians come to light.

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Microsoft stops Israel’s use of technology for mass surveillance of Palestinians

The genocide in Gaza

Published yesterday 17:41
– By Editorial Staff
Microsoft's research and development division in Matam Business Park in Haifa, Israel.
5 minute read

The tech giant has shut down the Israeli military’s access to cloud services and AI tools following revelations about a secret spy project that collected millions of phone calls from Palestinian civilians.

Microsoft has shut down the Israeli military’s access to technology that was used to power an extensive surveillance system that collected millions of Palestinian civilian phone calls daily from Gaza and the West Bank, The Guardian can reveal.

Microsoft informed Israeli officials last week that Unit 8200, the military’s elite intelligence agency, had violated the company’s terms of service by storing the enormous amount of surveillance data on its Azure cloud platform, according to sources with insight into the situation.

The decision to cut off Unit 8200’s ability to use parts of the technology is a direct result of an investigation that The Guardian published last month. It revealed how Azure was used to store and process the enormous amount of Palestinian communications in a mass surveillance program.

Secret project after summit meeting

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

The project began after a 2021 meeting between Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and the unit’s then-commander Yossi Sariel.

In response to the investigation, Microsoft ordered an urgent external review to examine its relationship with Unit 8200. The initial results have now led to the company cutting off the unit’s access to certain of its cloud storage and AI services.

Equipped with Azure’s virtually unlimited storage capacity and computing power, Unit 8200 had built an indiscriminate new system that allowed its intelligence officers to collect, replay, and analyze the content of mobile calls from an entire population.

The project was so extensive that, according to sources from Unit 8200 – which is equivalent to the US National Security Agency – an internal motto emerged that captured its scope and ambition: “One million calls per hour.”

According to several sources, the enormous archive of intercepted calls – amounting to as much as 8,000 terabytes of data – was held in a Microsoft data center in the Netherlands. Within days of The Guardian publishing the investigation, Unit 8200 appears to have quickly moved surveillance data out of the country.

Data moved to Amazon

According to sources with knowledge of the enormous data transfer out of the EU country, it occurred in early August. Intelligence sources said that Unit 8200 planned to transfer data to Amazon Web Services cloud platform. Neither the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) nor Amazon responded to a request for comment.

Microsoft’s extraordinary decision to terminate the spy agency’s access to key technology was taken amid pressure from employees and investors over its work for the Israeli military and the role its technology has played in the nearly two-year-long offensive in Gaza.

A UN commission of inquiry recently concluded that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza, an allegation denied by Israel but supported by many experts in international law.

The Guardian’s joint investigation led to protests at Microsoft’s US headquarters and one of its European data centers, as well as demands from a worker-led campaign group, No Azure for Apartheid, to end all ties to the Israeli military.

Clear message from Microsoft

On Thursday, Microsoft Vice Chairman and President Brad Smith informed staff about the decision. In an email that The Guardian has seen, he said the company had “terminated and deactivated a set of services to a unit within Israel’s Ministry of Defense,” including cloud storage and AI services.

Smith wrote: “We do not provide technology to facilitate mass surveillance of civilians. We have applied this principle in all countries around the world, and we have insisted on it repeatedly for more than two decades.”

The decision brings an abrupt end to a three-year period during which the spy agency operated its surveillance program using Microsoft’s technology.

Unit 8200 used its own extensive surveillance capabilities to intercept and collect the calls. The spy agency then used a customized and segregated area within the Azure platform, enabling data to be retained for longer periods and analyzed with AI-driven techniques.

Used for bombing targets in Gaza

Although the initial focus of the surveillance system was the West Bank, where an estimated 3 million Palestinians live under Israeli military occupation, intelligence sources said the cloud-based storage platform had been used in the Gaza offensive to facilitate the preparation of deadly airstrikes.

The revelations highlighted how Israel has relied on services and infrastructure from major US tech companies to support its bombardment of Gaza, which has killed more than 65,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and created a deep humanitarian crisis and famine catastrophe.

According to a document seen by The Guardian, a senior Microsoft executive told Israel’s Ministry of Defense last week:

While our review is ongoing, we have at this point identified evidence supporting parts of The Guardian’s reporting.

The executive told Israeli officials that Microsoft “is not in the business of facilitating mass surveillance of civilians” and informed them that it would “deactivate” access to services supporting Unit 8200’s surveillance project and shut down its use of certain AI products.

First time since the war began

The termination is the first known case of a US tech company withdrawing services provided to the Israeli military since the beginning of its war in Gaza.

The decision has not affected Microsoft’s broader commercial relationship with the IDF, which is a long-standing client and will retain access to other services. The termination will raise questions within Israel about the policy of keeping sensitive military data in a third-party cloud operated abroad.

Last month’s revelations about Unit 8200’s use of Microsoft technology followed an earlier investigation by The Guardian and its partners about the broader relationship between the company and the Israeli military.

That story, published in January and based on leaked files, showed how the IDF’s reliance on Azure and its AI systems increased dramatically in the most intensive phase of its Gaza campaign.

Following that report, Microsoft launched its first review of how the IDF uses its services. It said in May that it had “found no evidence to date” that the military had failed to comply with its terms of service, or used Azure and its AI technology “to target or harm people” in Gaza.

But The Guardian’s investigation with +972 and Local Call published in August, which revealed that the cloud-based surveillance project had been used to investigate and identify bombing targets in Gaza, led to the company reassessing its conclusions.

The revelations caused alarm among senior Microsoft executives and raised concerns that some of its Israel-based employees may not have been fully transparent about their knowledge of how Unit 8200 used Azure when questioned as part of the review.

The company said its executives, including Nadella, were not aware that Unit 8200 planned to use, or ultimately used, Azure to store the content of intercepted Palestinian calls.

Microsoft then launched its second and more targeted review, which was overseen by lawyers at the US firm Covington & Burling. In his note to staff, Smith said the investigation did not have access to any customer data but its findings were based on a review of internal Microsoft documents, emails and messages between personnel.

I want to note our appreciation for The Guardian’s reporting, Smith wrote, noting that it had illuminated “information we could not access given our customer confidentiality commitments.” He added: “Our review is ongoing.”

Netanyahu promises more illegal settlements after Palestine recognition

The genocide in Gaza

Published 22 September 2025
– By Editorial Staff
According to Netanyahu, recognizing Palestine as an independent state would be "a huge reward to terrorism".
2 minute read

Israel’s Prime Minister categorically rejects all plans for an independent Palestinian state and promises to instead expand illegal settlements in the West Bank after Britain, Canada and Australia on Sunday formally recognized Palestine.

Benjamin Netanyahu launched a harsh attack against the three countries’ decision and linked it directly to Hamas’ attack on Israel last year.

— There will be no Palestinian state, the Prime Minister declared.

— I have a clear message to those leaders who recognize a Palestinian state after the terrible massacre on October 7 … You are giving a huge reward to terrorism, he continued.

Netanyahu emphasized that Israel has already intensified its settlement policy in the occupied territories.

— We doubled Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria, and we will continue on this path, promised Israel’s leader, using the biblical names for the West Bank.

“Attempts to force a terrorist state”

The Prime Minister also hinted that further measures are to be expected when he returns from his US trip.

— The response to the latest attempt to force a terrorist state in the heart of our land will be given after my return from the United States. Wait and see.

Netanyahu’s statements come after pressure from the Israeli government’s right-wing faction. The far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have urged the Prime Minister to immediately apply Israeli sovereignty over the entire West Bank in response to Sunday’s recognitions.

The three countries’ decision to recognize Palestine comes in the wake of several other Western nations taking similar steps over the past year, further isolating Israel internationally on an issue where the country defiantly ignores UN resolutions and international law.

Swedish PM: “Don’t bring Middle Eastern conflicts to Swedish streets”

The genocide in Gaza

Published 17 September 2025
– By Editorial Staff
The loud pro-Palestinian protests have become a very troublesome disruptive element for the Kristersson government.
2 minute read

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson of the Moderate Party presents new measures against demonstrations and says he now wants to remove “Middle Eastern conflicts” from Swedish streets.

Critics note, however, that the Moderate Party has for many years pushed for mass immigration specifically from the Middle East – and continues to do so.

In a post on X, the prime minister writes about how politicians have been confronted outside the Riksdag (Swedish Parliament), ministers have been followed home from work, and Jewish families have been subjected to threats, and now the government promises tougher action.

“Don’t bring Middle Eastern conflicts to Swedish streets and squares. We must take care of the Sweden we love”, the prime minister appeals.

The statement comes from the same party that during Fredrik Reinfeldt’s government from 2006 significantly increased mass immigration to Sweden from the Middle East – a policy that continues today despite all problems and warnings, even though the rhetoric has changed.

In just these two decades, Sweden has received hundreds of thousands of people from various conflict areas in the Middle East, and a large portion of them have today been granted Swedish citizenship.

After Israel’s invasion of Gaza, however, Swedish politicians from the Moderate Party and other liberal parties have shown growing frustration and anger over the vocal protests from many of the immigrants they themselves allowed into the country.

These demonstrators protest almost daily against Israel’s genocide against Palestinians and demand, among other things, that Sweden cease its support for the Israeli state – demands that have become increasingly troublesome for those in power.

“Intrusive” demonstrators may face harsher punishment

Therefore, Kristersson now announces the following measures, among others:

• Review of criminal liability for demonstrators who act “intrusively or aggressively”
• Police given greater opportunity to decide on alternative times and places for demonstrations
• Clearer opportunity for police to intervene if decisions are not followed
• Police must report on how they work against disturbances at gatherings

The government is also reviewing possibilities to deport pro-Palestinian demonstrators who are considered particularly troublesome or who are accused of “glorifying terror” by, for example, expressing sympathies for Hamas or other groups designated as terrorist organizations.

“Whipping up hateful sentiments”

Kristersson writes in his post that “a heavy responsibility also rests on those who, by spreading lies, terror romanticism and antisemitism, polarize and whip up hateful sentiments in Sweden”.

For many, however, it appears ironic that the prime minister now claims to want to stop Middle Eastern conflicts from Swedish streets – conflicts that have largely come to Sweden through policies that his own party has implemented.

Others point out that it is telling that those in power react so strongly and condemningly only when they themselves are affected by disturbances and discomfort, while ordinary Swedes have been affected daily for many years by significantly worse immigration-related incidents without this receiving any attention whatsoever.

UN investigation: Israel commits genocide in Gaza

The genocide in Gaza

Published 16 September 2025
– By Editorial Staff
"All States are under a legal obligation to use all means that are reasonably available to them to stop the genocide in Gaza", the commission states.
4 minute read

An independent UN commission concludes that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.

The commission has investigated events since October 7, 2023, and finds that Israeli authorities have fulfilled four of five criteria for genocide under the Genocide Convention.

These acts include killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting living conditions calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction in whole or in part, and imposing measures intended to prevent births.

— The Commission finds that Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza. It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention, says Navi Pillay, the commission’s chair.

According to the commission, statements by Israeli civilian and military authorities, together with the actions of Israeli security forces, show that the genocidal acts have been committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as a group.

— The responsibility for these atrocity crimes lies with Israeli authorities at the highest echelons who have orchestrated a genocidal campaign for almost two years now with the specific intent to destroy the Palestinian group in Gaza, continues Pillay.

The commission also finds that Israel has failed to prevent and punish genocide by not investigating genocidal acts and prosecuting suspected perpetrators.

Extensive evidence base

The report is based on the commission’s previous investigations as well as facts and legal findings related to Israeli forces’ attacks in Gaza and Israeli authorities’ actions from October 7, 2023, to July 31, 2025.

To establish genocidal acts, the commission examined Israeli military operations in Gaza, including the killing and serious injuring of an unprecedented number of Palestinians, total siege and blockade of humanitarian aid leading to starvation, systematic destruction of health and education systems, systematic sexual and gender-based violence, direct attacks on children, systematic attacks on religious and cultural sites, and disregard for International Court of Justice orders.

To establish genocidal intent, the commission applied the “only reasonable inference” standard established by the International Court of Justice in the Bosnia v. Serbia case. The commission analyzed statements by Israeli authorities and concluded that these constitute direct evidence of genocidal intent.

By analyzing the actions of Israeli authorities and security forces in Gaza, including the imposition of starvation and inhumane living conditions on Palestinians, the commission found that genocidal intent was the only reasonable conclusion that could be drawn from the nature of the operations.

— Israel has flagrantly disregarded the orders for provisional measures from the International Court of Justice and warnings from Member States, UN offices, human rights organisations and civil society groups, and continued the strategy of destruction of the Palestinians in Gaza, says Pillay.

— The Commission finds that the Israeli authorities had no intention to change their course of actions. On the contrary, Israeli authorities have persisted and continued with their genocidal campaign in Gaza for almost two years now, she continues.

Names Netanyahu and Herzog

The commission states that the State of Israel bears responsibility for failing to prevent genocide, for committing genocide, and for failing to punish the perpetrators of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The report specifically mentions that Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have incited genocide and that Israeli authorities failed to take action against them to punish this incitement.

The commission urges Israel to immediately cease the genocide in Gaza and fully implement the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures orders. Israel must end its starvation policy, lift the siege, and ensure unimpeded access for large-scale humanitarian aid.

Demands on the international community

The commission recommends that member states stop the transfer of weapons and other equipment that could be used for genocidal acts to Israel, ensure that individuals and companies within their territories do not contribute to genocide or incitement to genocide, and take accountability measures through investigations and legal proceedings against individuals or companies directly or indirectly involved in the genocide.

— The international community cannot stay silent on the genocidal campaign launched by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza. When clear signs and evidence of genocide emerge, the absence of action to stop it amounts to complicity, says Pillay.

— Every day of inaction costs lives and erodes the credibility of the international community. All States are under a legal obligation to use all means that are reasonably available to them to stop the genocide in Gaza, she concludes.

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