The Billion Dollar Deal Between Israel, Google, and Amazon .. What Does "Nimbus" Hide?

In a massive cloud computing deal valued at $1.2 billion, British media reports revealed a secret mechanism that Israel insisted on including in its contract with Google and Amazon, known as the "Wink Mechanism," specifically designed to circumvent foreign legal orders that might compel the companies to hand over Israeli data to external entities.

The investigation conducted by the British newspaper "The Guardian" in collaboration with +972 Magazine and the Hebrew site "Local Call" uncovered astonishing details within the project contract known as "Project Nimbus," which was signed in 2021 to store data for the Israeli government and its military on local cloud servers owned by Google and Amazon.

* A Secret Code to Protect Israeli Data

According to the investigation, the Israeli government insisted on including the Wink Mechanism in the contract due to its concerns that its sensitive data could fall into the hands of foreign law enforcement authorities—especially American and European—who have broad legal powers to request data from giant cloud companies.

Like other tech giants, Google and Amazon typically comply with court orders and requests from law enforcement to hand over user data for investigative purposes, and are often legally prohibited from informing affected customers about such requests.

However, Israel did not want to be treated as a "regular client," so it devised an unprecedented method that allows it to know when its data is handed over without the two companies violating international laws.

* How Does the "Wink Mechanism" Work?

The mechanism involves sending encrypted financial signals from Google or Amazon to the Israeli government in the event that either is compelled to hand over data concerning Israel to a foreign entity.

This is done through specific value financial payments transferred within 24 hours of the event, where the amount reflects the code of the foreign country that received the data, based on that country's international dialing code.

Examples of this:

_ If the country in question is the United States (+1), a payment of 1,000 shekels is transferred.

_ If it is Italy (+39), a payment of 3,900 shekels is sent.

_ However, if even mentioning the country that received the data is not allowed, a payment of 100,000 shekels (about $30,000) is sent as a signal that the event is under complete confidentiality.

These payments are recorded in the financial system as "special compensations," serving as a secret warning to the Israeli government without revealing the nature of the event or the foreign entity involved.

* Strict and Unprecedented Restrictions on the Two Companies

The documents relied upon by the investigation show that Google and Amazon accepted a series of strict and unconventional conditions imposed by Israel to ensure the continuity of their services without any obstacles, even in the event of accusations against the state for using technology in human rights violations.

Under the contract, the two American companies are prohibited from suspending or restricting the Israeli government's or military's or security agencies' access to cloud computing services, regardless of the circumstances.

They are also forbidden from taking any unilateral action similar to what Microsoft did last October when it suspended the Israeli military's access to technology used for monitoring Palestinian communications.

It is noted that Microsoft had competed for the Nimbus contract but rejected some Israeli demands related to data sovereignty and legal circumvention, leading to its loss of the deal to Google and Amazon.

* Project Nimbus .. The Cloud That Stores Everything

Project Nimbus derives its name from "clouds" (Nimbuses), and it is a seven-year contract renewable for storing and processing data for the Israeli government and the public sector in local data centers owned by Google and Amazon within Israel.

And although the data is physically stored within the country, Israel fears changes in American and European laws that might allow foreign courts to demand companies to hand over data located abroad or on servers managed by companies subject to those authorities, which made it insist on the "Wink Mechanism" as a sovereign guarantee.

* Technology in the Service of War

The controversy surrounding Project Nimbus comes at a time when international criticism is increasing regarding the role of cloud technology in Israel's ongoing two-year war on the Gaza Strip, which a UN investigative committee has deemed to amount to genocide.

Israel relies on cloud service providers to store and analyze vast amounts of intelligence and surveillance data.

Previous reports revealed that Microsoft hosted a massive database of intercepted Palestinian calls before Israel planned to transfer it to Amazon (AWS) servers.

Last September, Microsoft decided to suspend some of its cloud services to the Israeli military after it was revealed that the latter had stored millions of Palestinian calls on its servers, considering that a violation of the terms of use.

However, under the Nimbus contract, Google and Amazon do not have the right to make a similar decision, as that would be considered discrimination against the Israeli government and expose the companies to hefty fines and lawsuits.

* Denial and Ambiguity

Despite the seriousness of what the documents revealed, Google and Amazon denied violating any legal obligations or implementing any mechanisms contrary to international laws, while the Israeli government refrained from directly commenting on the details of the "Wink Mechanism."

However, observers confirmed that what has been termed the "Wink Mechanism" is a precedent in the world of cloud technology, combining legal circumvention and financial encryption to protect a state's data from the laws of its allies.