Hewlett Packard Enterprise MILITARY

Direct Defence Contracting & Procurement

Legacy Electronic Data Systems and then Hewlett Packard (HP) served as contractors for the Basel biometric access-control system (hand and facial geometry) deployed at Israeli military checkpoints in the occupied West Bank, a program financed initially under the 1998 Wye River Memorandum and originally awarded to Electronic Data Systems, which HP acquired in 2008 ^{1, 2}. HPE-period responsibility is limited to the 2015–2016 interval after the HP split and before reported termination.^{3, 4} The Israeli Ministry of Defence confirmed HP’s operation of Basel at checkpoints including Jericho, Bethlehem, Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarem, Hebron, Abu Dis, Tarkumia, and near Efraim, with renewals through 2015 and a nominal contractual end-date in 2017, before confirming to Who Profits that the system was scrapped at the end of 2016 and is no longer active ^{1, 4, 2, 3}.

In December 2011, HP won a roughly NIS 500 million Ministry of Defence tender to be the exclusive provider, implementer, and maintainer of servers for the IDF and Israeli security forces, a multi-year deal that transferred to HPE after the 2015 split before Cisco Systems (delivered via Israeli integrator Bynet Data Communication) won the replacement tender in January 2017 on the strength of a substantially lower bid, as confirmed by the Ministry’s Procurement and Production Directorate ^{5, 3, 6}.

Secondary Who Profits and AFSC reporting indicates HPE was selected in July 2024 to lead a new military server-farm project, supplying hardware and managing selection of the construction contractor for a facility reportedly likely to be located underground, though no primary procurement award or completion record was independently retrieved; the separate February 2025 press investigation below provides attributed journalistic corroboration ^{5, 3}.

HPE has held a continuous sequence of Israel Prison Service contracts for server, data-storage, and IT/data-security maintenance, including NIS 2,695,268 cumulative (2015–2020), NIS 1 million (2021–2022), NIS 371,856 (Feb 2023–2024), NIS 364,075 (April 2024), and a sole-source NIS 445,000 award in March 2025 for maintenance of HPE equipment in IPS central and backup server farms, a contract dated after both the ICJ Advisory Opinion of July 2024 and the ICC arrest warrants of November 2024, with a reported term ending February 2026. That stated term has elapsed; no later renewal or verified removal of the installed hardware was established ^{3, 7, 8}. AFSC Investigate records that the Israel Prison Service population served by that infrastructure included, as of April 2017, some 6,400 Palestinian prisoners, among them about 500 held in administrative detention and 300 children, and that most Palestinian prisoners are transferred from the occupied Palestinian territories to prisons located inside Israel in violation of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention ⁵.

HPE has similarly held Israel Police Data Center Care and server-maintenance contracts, including NIS 366,000 (2017), maintenance through 2021, NIS 4 million (2021–2023 proactive maintenance), NIS 4 million (2021–2024 Data Center Care), and a January 2024 announced intention to procure an additional three years of Data Center Care through December 2026 for NIS 4 million. Who Profits reports enclosure, blade and other physical servers, plus maintenance, management software and dedicated support teams; the proposed later term has not elapsed, but the underlying later award was not independently retrieved ^{3, 7}.

A 2008 legacy-HP Ministry of Interior biometric-documentation contract and subsequent HPE/DXC portions are reported separately from the National Digital Agency engagement.^{7, 3}

Who Profits describes a NIS 3,129,750 May 2025–May 2028 biometric-infrastructure extension.³ The matching primary professional opinion instead names Hewlett-Packard (Israel) Ltd., supplier 511009342, for PrimeKey EJBCA certificate-authority services: smart-ID authentication/electronic-signature certificates and open banking. It proposes 1 May 2025–30 May 2028, including VAT, and marks services rather than goods.⁹

This record identifies no specific physical server estate or HPE operation of a biometric database; it is an intended sole-supplier opinion, not a retrieved executed award. The software/certificate service is distinct from the physical police, prison and Aviv equipment described elsewhere.⁹

The related Aviv population-registry system, running on Itanium servers under sole-supplier status since 2017 and covered by a NIS 3,829,410 contract (May 2023–June 2026), is being phased out in favor of an IBM-built “Eitan System,” confirmed by Who Profits in April 2021, though HPE’s Israeli subsidiary reportedly continued supplying servers during the transition per a secondary summary of the UN Special Rapporteur’s 2025 report ^{7, 3, 10}.

HP/HPE is reported to have administered the electronic infrastructure of the Israeli Navy, which since 2007 has enforced the naval blockade of Gaza ^{2, 8}. Who Profits dates that Israeli Navy IT engagement to a “virtualization project” contract won by HP in 2009, describing it as a pilot for subsequent implementation across Israeli army units, and records that in the same year HP Global won a further contract to supply the Israeli army with all needed computer equipment ⁴. BDS Movement campaign documentation states that HP has been contracted as the exclusive provider of personal computers to the Israeli military, supplying since 2009, with its most recent such contract signed in 2014 and extendable through 2019 ¹¹.

On the Basel system specifically, Who Profits records that EDS Israel provided the Israeli Ministry of Defence with the development, installation, maintenance and ongoing field support of the system under an October 1999 Ministry of Defence tender, and that HP was contracted to maintain Basel until 31 December 2017 ⁴. In April 2013 the Israeli Civil Administration confirmed to Who Profits that the Ministry of Defence had prolonged HP’s Basel maintenance contract until 30 June 2013, with a further extension to the end of 2013 conditional on approval of the Israeli state budget by the Knesset ¹. In February 2015 Who Profits documented the system in place at a further set of checkpoints - Jalame (Gilboa), Barta’a (Rihan), Tura (Shaked), Eyal, Eliyahu, Yoav, Hashmonaim (Ni’lin), Macabim (Beit Sira), Al-Jib (Givat Ze’ev), Qalandia (Atarot), Ras Abu-Sbitan (Hazietim), Halamed He and Sansana (Meitar) - and recorded that HP was contracted to provide maintenance and ongoing field support of the Basel system at the checkpoints until the end of 2015 ¹². Privacy International’s 2021 case study on biometrics and counter-terrorism in Israel/Palestine records that the Basel system was originally deployed in the Gaza Strip in 1999 and later extended to the West Bank, pairing biometric work permits with biometric verification at checkpoints for Palestinian workers from the occupied territory, and that an Israeli subsidiary of EDS - subsequently owned by Hewlett Packard - won the contract to develop both Basel and the analogous Maoz system for foreign workers in Israel ¹³. No public evidence identified of HP/HPE appearing in Israel’s SIBAT defence-export directory, consistent with its status as a foreign IT vendor to Israeli state bodies rather than an Israeli-domiciled defence exporter.

A February 2025 Israel Hayom investigation reports that HPE won an IDF supercomputer construction tender, would supply processors and storage servers, and chose a subcontractor to establish the facility. This adds attributed reporting beyond the July 2024 civil-society account; no primary award or completion record was retrieved, and no specific targeting application is established.¹⁴

Dual-Use Products & Tactical Variants

Ruggedized, mil-spec-rated HPE ProLiant server models (DL160RS, DL360RS, Edgeline EL1000RS, MSA 2050RS) are marketed for military deployment, but these variants are produced and sold through third-party integrator/reseller channels such as Core Systems and Unitronix rather than directly by HPE as a defense-labeled product line ¹⁵. No public evidence identified linking these ruggedized server variants to Israeli security-force end-users specifically, as the product category is marketed globally rather than confirmed as Israel-specific. No public evidence identified of export licence applications, end-user certificates, or government export-control reviews tied specifically to HPE sales to Israeli defence or security end-users. The equipment Who Profits documents as actually supplied to Israeli security bodies is standard enterprise server, storage and networking infrastructure - Itanium servers underpinning the Population and Immigration Authority’s Aviv system, ProLiant server systems under police proactive-maintenance contracts, enclosure, blade and “pizza” servers and Virtual Connect systems maintained for the Israeli Police, and central storage plus seven SAN (Storage Area Network) switches in the Israel Prison Service server farms - rather than a purpose-built or contract-modified military product line ³. In the United States, HPE holds large-scale defence IT contracts of the same commercial character: on 25 November 2025 the Defense Information Systems Agency awarded HPE a $931 million, ten-year other transaction agreement under the DISA Cloud Instance initiative to deploy a secure private cloud environment in DISA data centres via HPE GreenLake, following a prototype that consolidated multiple separate infrastructure environments operated by DISA’s J9 Hosting and Compute directorate ¹⁶.

Heavy Machinery, Construction & Infrastructure

No public evidence identified of HPE heavy machinery, vehicles, or construction/demolition equipment used in the occupied Palestinian territories, consistent with HPE’s core business as an IT/server infrastructure and services supplier rather than a construction-equipment manufacturer. HP operated an R&D center in the settlement of Beitar Illit in the occupied West Bank, established in 2006 by Electronic Data Systems and relocated in 2012 to a shared facility with Malam Team and Citybook Services; the facility was operated by HP until the 2015 split, then by HPE, before transferring to DXC Technology in 2017, which in turn sold its Israeli IT business to Ness (a subsidiary of Hilan Group) in 2022 ⁵. Who Profits corroborates that the Beitar Illit centre was operated by EDS Israel in 2006–2008 and by HP from 2008 to 2017, that until January 2012 it was housed in a facility of the Beitar Illit municipality, and that it was expanded using a three-year grant awarded to HP by the Israeli Ministry of Industry and Employment ¹⁷. HP also ran a 2005 “Smart City” pilot project in the settlement of Ariel in the occupied West Bank, involving disaster-resilient storage and a municipal wireless network, with no further public evidence identified of ongoing HPE presence there ⁵. The Israeli Civil Administration’s Population Registry unit, linked to the Aviv system infrastructure contract described above, is located in the settlement of Beit El in the occupied West Bank, establishing a settlement-nexus geographic link for that contract ³. No public evidence identified of HPE contracts for the construction or maintenance of checkpoints, detention facilities, military bases, or the separation barrier, as HPE’s documented role is limited to IT/software/hardware supply to systems operating at such locations rather than physical construction.

Supply Chain Integration with Defence Primes

No public evidence identified of a verified supply relationship between HPE and Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, or IMI Systems/Elbit Land for components, sub-systems, or manufacturing services. No public evidence identified of joint development, co-production, or technology-transfer agreements between HPE and Israeli defence firms. HPE has, however, acquired Israeli technology capacity directly: on 3 March 2023 it announced the acquisition of Axis Security, an Israeli cloud-security company founded in 2018 by Dor Knafo and Gil Azrelant and employing about 120 people, 80 of them in Israel, whose Atmos platform provides cloud-native security service edge functions including private-application access, a secure web gateway and a cloud access security broker; deal terms were not disclosed and an HPE spokeswoman stated that a reported figure of approximately $500 million was inaccurate ¹⁸. No public evidence identified of Axis Security products being supplied to Israeli defence or security end-users, and the platform’s documented functions are enterprise commercial cloud security rather than military applications ¹⁸.

Logistical Sustainment & Base Services

No public evidence identified of HPE catering, transport, fuel, or waste-management contracts to IDF bases. The closest documented analog to facilities or telecommunications support for military installations is HPE’s IT/server-infrastructure support to the IDF and Ministry of Defence between 2011 and 2017 and the reported July 2024 military server-farm project, though the geographic specificity of the latter facility remains unresolved beyond a description as “likely underground” ^{5, 3}. No public evidence identified of HPE shipping, freight-forwarding, or port-handling contracts servicing Israeli defence logistics or military cargo, as distinct from routine commercial IT-equipment shipping.

Munitions, Weapons Systems & Strategic Platforms

No public evidence identified of HPE acting as a manufacturer, prime contractor, or licensed producer of small arms, artillery, armoured vehicles, tactical drones, naval vessels, or other lethal platforms for Israeli forces. No public evidence identified of HPE supply of ammunition, explosive ordnance, propellants, warhead components, or munitions precursors to Israeli end-users. No public evidence identified of an HPE role in the Iron Dome, David’s Sling, Arrow, or other Israeli strategic/missile-defence platform manufacture, integration, or component supply. No public evidence identified of HPE supply of guidance electronics, fire-control systems, radar components, propulsion units, or warhead casings to Israeli defence end-users.

Export Licensing, Regulatory & Legal History

No public evidence identified of a government decision by the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, or other authority to grant, deny, suspend, or revoke an export licence specifically for HPE products destined for Israeli military or security end-users. No public evidence identified of an arms-embargo or sanctions-compliance enforcement action against HPE tied to Israel trade. No public evidence identified of an OECD National Contact Point complaint naming Hewlett Packard or HPE regarding Israel-related conduct. A $34.5 billion civil suit (Al-Tamimi et al. v. multiple defendants, including HPE, Larry Ellison, Sheldon Adelson, Irving Moskowitz, Haim Saban, RE/MAX, Motorola, Volvo, Nordstrom, Ahava, and named nonprofits) was filed on 9 March 2016 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging civil conspiracy, war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, unlawful trespass, RICO violations, and pillage tied to funding of West Bank settlement activity, with HPE publicly stating the claims were “without merit” ¹⁹. The appellate record shows the suit was brought by eighteen individual Palestinians and a Palestinian village council against eight high-net-worth individuals (including Sheldon Adelson, Lawrence Ellison, Irving Moskowitz and Haim Saban), thirteen tax-exempt entities, Bank Leumi and Bank Hapoalim, and eight companies named as construction or support firms - G4S, RE/MAX, Africa Israel Investments, Veolia Environmental Services, Volvo, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola Solutions and Orbital ATK; the district court dismissed the complaint under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) on the ground that it raised nonjusticiable political questions, and on 19 February 2019 a unanimous three-judge D.C. Circuit panel (Henderson, Edwards, Pillard) reversed that dismissal and remanded for further proceedings, holding that the only political question presented - sovereignty over the territory - was extricable from the plaintiffs’ claims ²⁰. No public evidence identified of the case’s final disposition thereafter. HP Inc., HPE, and DXC Technology do not appear on the current UN OHCHR settlement-business database as of its September 2025 update ^{21, 22}. The underlying UN Special Rapporteur report (A/HRC/59/23, advance edited version dated 30 June 2025, submitted to the Human Rights Council’s fifty-ninth session) does name the company directly: in its paragraph on IBM’s operation of the Population and Immigration Authority’s central database, the report states that “Hewlett Packard Enterprises (HPE) maintained the database and its Israeli subsidiary is still providing servers”, that “Hewlett Packard (HP) has long enabled the apartheid systems of Israel, supplying technology to the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the prison service and police”, and that “Since the 2015 split of the company into Hewlett Packard Enterprises and HP Inc., opaque business structures have obscured the roles of their seven remaining Israeli subsidiaries” ²³. A secondary academic-centre summary of the report reproduces the same characterisation ¹⁰. A June 2024 PAX report on companies arming Israel and their financiers, focused on weapons and munitions manufacturers, contained no extractable mention of Hewlett Packard or HPE ²⁴.

Civil Society Scrutiny & Documented Investigations

Who Profits has published a sustained, multi-year investigative record on HP/HPE, including dedicated reports and a continuously updated company profile documenting the Basel system, IDF/Ministry of Defence servers, Israel Police, Israel Prison Service, Ministry of Interior biometric contracts, and the Aviv/Eitan transition ^{1, 7, 3, 4}. AFSC Investigate maintains a detailed company dossier tracing the HP/HPE/DXC corporate lineage across the Basel system, the Kidma prison-management system (contracted in 2007 and terminated after delivery failure), Israel National Police endpoint/database services, the Beitar Illit R&D center, and the Ariel smart-city pilot ⁵. The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre maintains a company profile for HPE filtered to Israel/Palestine-related issues ²⁵, and the Mapping Project lists HPE as an entity of concern in its documentation ²⁶. BDS Movement runs an active “Boycott HP” campaign, publishing a “BDS Pressure Works!” update crediting the campaign with the end of the Israeli Navy contract, the Basel system, and the Aviv system, and a further update during the 2023–2024 period citing the April 2024 IPS sole-supplier maintenance award as evidence of continued involvement ^{11, 27, 8}. A separate BDS Movement report estimated HP faced up to $120 million in potential losses tied to its complicity in Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights ²⁸. Institutional divestment on occupation-related grounds has included Quaker Friends Fiduciary Corporation (2012), Presbyterian Church (USA) (2014, divesting approximately $20 million combined from HP, Caterpillar, and Motorola Solutions), United Church of Christ (2015), Alliance of Baptists (2016), Unitarian Universalist Association (2016), Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (2016), Mennonite Church (2017), and multiple United Methodist Church regional bodies, all pre-2020 actions with No public evidence identified of further divestment actions after 2020 ²⁹. HP Inc. issued a public statement in 2021 asserting that the company “does not take sides in political disputes,” operates “in strict accordance with all applicable laws and regulations,” and “implements rigorous policies to respect human rights,” while contractually requiring business partners to meet the same standards ³⁰. That statement, dated 25 May 2021, further describes the allegations circulating about the company as “unfortunate and untrue” and asserts that “HP Inc. does not develop, sell or own technologies or provide any related services in our portfolio pertaining to data centers or servers,” a formulation that distinguishes HP Inc.’s post-split portfolio from HPE’s ³⁰. HPE has separately issued its own response, published by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre on 24 September 2018, in which it said it was “strongly committed to socially responsible business practices,” that its work in Israel was “consistent with our values and standards,” that “it is not our policy to take sides in political disputes between countries or regions,” and that it was “committed to making the benefits of technology available to all people as a means to learn, to work and to thrive” ³¹. On 7 October 2023 HPE posted a statement on LinkedIn saying that “The attack by Hamas on Israeli civilians is unjustified and inexcusable,” confirming it was verifying the safety of its team members and their families in Israel ³². War Resisters’ International named Hewlett-Packard its “War Profiteer of the Month” in 2014, citing the Ministry of Defence’s extension of HP’s Basel checkpoint maintenance contract and HP’s administration of the Israeli Navy’s IT infrastructure, the Navy having enforced the naval blockade of Gaza since 2007 ³³. On 30 October 2020 more than 100 trade unions, student associations, movements and solidarity groups - among them Fórsa, UNISON, Brazil’s Central Única dos Trabalhadores, the Students’ Federation of India, Sinn Féin and the Communist Party of Ireland - wrote to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet asking that HPE be added in the next update of the settlement-business database, from whose 2020 first edition of 112 companies it was absent, on the ground that “HPE provides servers to the Israeli Population and Immigration Authority for the maintenance of Israel’s computerized population register, which includes the ‘Yesha database’ of Israeli citizens living in the illegal settlements” ³⁴. Unite, the second-largest British and Irish trade union, passed a resolution at its Executive Council meeting in June 2019 to end buying HP products and replace existing ones, joining the Boycott HP campaign ³⁵. No public evidence identified of an HP/HPE-specific reservist-salary-subsidy policy for Israeli operations, and No public evidence identified confirming or denying Friends of the IDF as an eligible organization within HP Foundation’s or HPE Gives’ employee charitable-matching programs.