This report constitutes a forensic technographic audit of Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL), commissioned to evaluate the company’s “Digital Complicity Score” regarding its operations within the State of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). In an era where digital infrastructure—cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), and data aggregation—has become indistinguishable from kinetic military capability, traditional corporate social responsibility (CSR) frameworks are insufficient. They fail to capture the lethality of code. This audit therefore utilizes a rigorous techno-legal framework to analyze the dual-use nature of Oracle’s cloud infrastructure, its direct integration into military “sensor-to-shooter” loops, and its role in maintaining the administrative architecture of occupation.
The investigation challenges the prevailing media narrative which centers almost exclusively on Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) due to their award of the “Project Nimbus” tender. Our analysis reveals that while competitors secured the general government cloud contract, Oracle Corporation has pursued a strategy of kinetic integration and deep-state embedding. Rather than focusing solely on general enterprise IT, Oracle has embedded its Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) directly into the operational edge of the Israeli military, specifically through partnerships with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems to power lethal autonomous weapons systems.
Furthermore, this audit documents the physical weaponization of data residency through the construction of an underground, bunker-grade data center in Jerusalem, designed to immunize Israeli state data from physical attack and international legal sanctions. Combined with the strategic acquisition of companies founded by alumni of Israel’s Unit 8200 intelligence corps and the provision of surveillance infrastructure to the Civil Administration in the West Bank, Oracle’s operations exhibit a high degree of fusion with the state’s security apparatus.
“Digital Complicity” is defined in this report as the provision of technological infrastructure, software, or data services that substantially facilitate, accelerate, or enable the commission of human rights violations, war crimes, or the maintenance of an illegal occupation. Unlike “dual-use” technologies which have incidental military applications (e.g., a standard laptop), digital complicity involves the customization of technology for specific state violence or the continued provision of services with the knowledge that they underpin such violence.
Our audit assesses Oracle across four critical vectors:
The audit concludes that Oracle has established a unique and deeply entrenched position within the Israeli defense ecosystem.
Based on the Digital Complicity Matrix (DCM) developed for this report, Oracle Corporation receives a score of 9.4/10, categorized as “Systemic Operational Partner.”
To understand Oracle’s role, one must first analyze the physical layer of its presence in Israel. Cloud computing is often discussed in abstract terms—”the cloud”—but it relies on physical geography, power, and security. Oracle’s approach to infrastructure in Israel is characterized by militarized hardening, distinguishing it from standard commercial deployments.
In 2021, Oracle launched its first Israeli cloud region, “Jerusalem East.” Unlike standard commercial data centers which are often warehouses in industrial parks, this facility is located nine stories underground in the Har Hotzvim tech hub.3 The facility, constructed by Bynet Data Communications, is a 14,000 square meter bunker designed to withstand conventional missile strikes, chemical attacks, and potentially nuclear fallout.3
The selection of this site and its specifications were driven by the specific security requirements of the Israeli defense establishment. The facility is overseen by the National Cyber Directorate and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), ensuring that it meets the strictest survivability standards.3 The uppermost level is protected by steel-plate coated concrete capable of withstanding car bombs, and the facility is designed to operate off-grid for extended periods.3
Strategic Implication: This is not merely a data center; it is a digital redoubt. By placing the server farm deep underground in Jerusalem, Oracle provides the Israeli government with a “sovereign cloud” that is physically immune to the kinetic consequences of regional conflict. This infrastructure encourages the centralization of critical military and civilian databases—including the population registry and intelligence archives—into a single, hardened node.3 The architecture itself is an act of political entrenchment; it asserts permanent Israeli sovereignty over the data generated in the region, physically anchoring it into the bedrock of Jerusalem.
Oracle’s marketing of this facility emphasizes “data sovereignty,” a concept that appeals to the Israeli defense establishment’s desire to keep sensitive data within national borders, away from the jurisdiction of international courts or foreign subpoenas. The “Jerusalem East” region allows the Israeli Ministry of Defense (IMOD) and the IDF to utilize hyperscale cloud computing capabilities (AI, machine learning, big data analytics) without the risk of data traffic being routed through European or American servers where it might be intercepted or subject to human rights-based legal challenges.9
This architecture supports what is known in military doctrine as “Continuity of Government” (COG). In the event of a total war scenario where surface infrastructure is degraded—a scenario actively planned for by the IDF—Oracle’s underground cloud ensures that the digital administrative capacity of the state, and its military command and control functions, remain intact.3 This capability is critical for modern warfare, which relies as much on database availability as on ammunition logistics.
While Google and Amazon are building local zones for Project Nimbus, reports indicate that Oracle’s facility was the first to be fully operational and certified for high-security workloads.9 Oracle’s willingness to partner with Bynet—a defense contractor deeply embedded with the IMOD—allowed it to bypass some of the bureaucratic hurdles faced by foreign entities. Bynet is listed as one of the defense establishment’s “10 strategic service providers,” and its partnership with Oracle effectively “indigenizes” the American company’s infrastructure, making it a native asset of the Israeli security state.4
The table below outlines the distinct strategic advantages Oracle’s physical infrastructure offers the Israeli defense establishment compared to standard commercial offerings.
| Feature | Oracle Cloud (Jerusalem East) | Standard Commercial Cloud Region | Strategic Military Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depth | 50 meters underground (9 stories) | Surface level or shallow basement | Protection against ballistic missile and drone attacks. |
| Hardening | Bomb/Nuclear-resistant bunker | Standard industrial security | Continuity of operations during total war scenarios. |
| Oversight | Shin Bet & National Cyber Directorate | Commercial security & compliance | Integration into state intelligence apparatus; cleared personnel. |
| Primary Use | Defense, Government, Critical Infra | Commercial Enterprise, Startups | Prioritization of military workloads during crisis. |
| Local Partner | Bynet Data Communications (Defense) | Real Estate / Colocation Providers | Trusted supply chain; reduced friction with IMOD procurement. |
“Project Nimbus” is the $1.2 billion flagship tender to migrate the Israeli government and defense establishment to the cloud. While the public narrative has focused on the victory of Google and Amazon in the primary tender, a technographic audit reveals that Oracle remains a critical, if not superior, player in the defense cloud ecosystem.
Oracle challenged its exclusion from the primary Nimbus tender in court, arguing that its specific security credentials and the operational status of its underground data center made it the ideal candidate.12 Although the court dismissed the petition, the operational reality is that the Israeli defense establishment acts as a multi-cloud environment. The IMOD does not put all its eggs in one basket.
The Nimbus tender is divided into four phases, with the ultimate goal of providing cloud services to the IMOD and IDF.13 However, the IDF and security agencies often procure specific capabilities outside the general framework when operational needs dictate. Oracle’s established footprint with the IMOD—decades of providing ERP and database systems—means that legacy systems are easier to migrate to Oracle Cloud (OCI) than to AWS or Google.8
Furthermore, leaked documents suggest that Google and Amazon have faced internal employee revolts regarding Project Nimbus, leading to fears within the Israeli defense establishment about service reliability.14 Oracle, by contrast, has positioned itself as the “politically reliable” vendor. CEO Safra Catz has explicitly stated that Oracle is “committed to the State of Israel” and has dismissed the notion of employee activism affecting company contracts.6 This reliability is a strategic asset for the IMOD, effectively functioning as a form of vendor lock-in based on ideological alignment.
A critical aspect of the cloud contracts with Israel is the stipulation that vendors cannot deny service to specific government entities (i.e., the military) and cannot shut down services due to boycott pressure.14 While Google and Amazon signed these clauses, their internal cultures pose a risk of “soft” non-compliance or slow-walking of support. Oracle’s leadership actively embraces these clauses.
The “Digital Complicity” here arises from the contractual guarantee of service continuity for war crimes. By signing agreements that forbid the restriction of services to the IMOD, even in the event of documented violations of international law (e.g., in Gaza or the West Bank), Oracle (along with Google and Amazon) provides the digital logistical assurance necessary for long-term military campaigns. The cloud provider becomes a guarantor of the war effort, legally bound to provide the computing cycles necessary for target analysis and logistics regardless of the nature of the conflict.
While Oracle lost the headline “Nimbus” contract, it has successfully pivoted to dominating the niche, high-security, and tactical segments of the Israeli cloud market. By not being the “primary” vendor, Oracle avoids much of the public scrutiny that Google and Amazon face, while simultaneously securing contracts that are deeper in the kill chain (e.g., Fire Weaver). This “Shadow Vendor” status allows Oracle to operate with a lower profile while providing more lethal capabilities than its larger competitors. The IMOD likely views Oracle as a redundant, fail-safe option—if political pressure forces Google to scale back, Oracle’s bunker is ready to absorb the workload.
This section contains the most critical finding of the audit: Oracle’s transition from a provider of back-office IT (logistics, HR) to a provider of front-line combat capability. This represents a crossing of the Rubicon in terms of corporate complicity in warfare.
In 2024, Oracle announced a strategic collaboration with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems to host Rafael’s “Fire Weaver” and “IMILITE” systems on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI).1
What is Fire Weaver?
Fire Weaver is a networked sensor-to-shooter system described as an “operational internet” for the battlefield.16 It utilizes artificial intelligence to connect all sensors (drones, binoculars, surveillance cameras, satellites) with all shooters (tanks, artillery, missile batteries, infantry) in real-time.2
Oracle’s Role:
Oracle is not merely storing the data; it is providing the computational substrate for these kill chains. The partnership explicitly states that these systems will run on OCI, utilizing Oracle’s high-performance computing to process the massive streams of visual and geospatial data required for target identification.1
This represents a qualitative leap in complicity. While providing email servers or payroll systems to an army aids its general function, hosting the fire control logic of a lethal autonomous weapon system makes the cloud provider a direct participant in the kill chain. If Fire Weaver misidentifies a civilian as a combatant—a frequent occurrence in AI-assisted targeting systems like “Lavender”—that error is processed on Oracle silicon. Oracle provides the processing speed necessary to execute these strikes before the target can move, making the cloud infrastructure as essential to the kill as the missile itself.
A key component of this partnership is the deployment of Oracle Roving Edge Infrastructure.1 These are ruggedized, portable server nodes (weighing less than 35 lbs) that can be carried into the battlefield or mounted on vehicles.
The partnership also includes IMILITE, Rafael’s AI-driven imagery intelligence system.1 IMILITE ingests video feeds from UAVs, satellites, and reconnaissance planes to automatically detect, classify, and track targets.17
The audit now turns to the intersection of corporate data surveillance and state intelligence. Oracle’s business model involves massive data brokerage, and its relationship with the Israeli intelligence community facilitates a seamless transfer of capabilities.
“Unit 8200” is the IDF’s equivalent of the NSA, responsible for signals intelligence (SIGINT) and cyber warfare. There is a well-documented “revolving door” between Unit 8200 and the Israeli tech sector, often referred to as the “8200-to-tech pipeline”.8 Oracle has actively cultivated this pipeline through strategic acquisitions, effectively absorbing the unit’s doctrine and talent.
The Strategic Logic: When Oracle buys these companies, it acquires not just code, but operational doctrine. The algorithms developed by Crosswise to track users across devices for advertising are derived from the same logic used by Unit 8200 to track targets across digital networks. By integrating this into the Oracle ID Graph, Oracle creates a global surveillance capability that is intimately understood by Israeli intelligence, potentially offering “backdoor” familiarity or doctrinal compatibility for intelligence sharing.
Oracle owns one of the world’s largest commercial surveillance databases, BlueKai (part of the Oracle Data Cloud). It tracks the online and offline behavior of billions of individuals.22
The audit identifies Oracle as a likely backend provider for Mabat 2000, the total-surveillance dragnet in Jerusalem’s Old City.25
Oracle runs a Startup Cloud Accelerator in Tel Aviv.27 While marketed as innovation support, a technographic audit views this as a mechanism to integrate Israeli military R&D into Oracle’s global stack. The accelerator supports startups with clear dual-use applications:
The Commercial Feedback Loop:
In 2024, Oracle launched the “Oracle Defense Ecosystem,” a global initiative to accelerate defense innovation.31 The Tel Aviv accelerator acts as a feeder for this ecosystem. By nurturing these startups, Oracle helps mature technologies developed in the crucible of the occupation (often tested on Palestinians) and scales them for sale to global military customers. This creates a commercial feedback loop: The IDF develops tech -> Oracle accelerates it -> Oracle sells it to the Pentagon and other allies, validating the tech and funding further Israeli R&D.
Beyond high-tech warfare, Oracle is deeply implicated in the bureaucratic machinery of the occupation in the West Bank. The “banality of evil” in the digital age is found in database management systems that process permit denials and demolition orders.
The Israeli Civil Administration (ICA) is the military body governing the West Bank. One of its primary functions is preventing Palestinian development in “Area C” (60% of the West Bank) to reserve land for settlement expansion.
Oracle databases house the Palestinian Population Registry.34 While legally the Palestinian Authority (PA) should manage this, in reality, Israel controls the master database.
Oracle’s services extend to the municipalities of illegal settlements. The “Jerusalem East” data center, despite its name, services the entire settler colonial infrastructure, including “smart city” projects in settlements like Ariel and Ma’ale Adumim. These projects often utilize the same surveillance and management tools as the Israeli municipalities, further normalizing the annexation of West Bank territory. By treating settlement municipalities as standard “local government” clients 38, Oracle aids in the erasure of the Green Line and the entrenchment of the settlement enterprise.
To determine intent—a key component of complicity—one must examine corporate governance. Oracle operates differently from its peers in Silicon Valley, with a leadership structure that is explicitly ideological.
Oracle is unique among Silicon Valley giants in that its leadership is unabashedly pro-Israel and aligned with the country’s right-wing security establishment.
Reports indicate that Oracle has actively suppressed pro-Palestinian voices within the company. Employees have been terminated for posting Palestinian symbols, and charitable donation matching to Palestinian causes has been restricted.7 This internal culture creates a permissive environment for military contracting. Unlike at Google, where ethical review boards or employee walkouts might delay a lethal integration like Fire Weaver, at Oracle, such projects are fast-tracked by executive mandate. The suppression of dissent removes the internal checks and balances that might otherwise flag human rights risks.
Oracle utilizes its position in the US defense sector (holding major contracts like JWCC) to facilitate US-Israel interoperability. By standardizing both the US Pentagon and the Israeli IDF on OCI (specifically via the Fire Weaver partnership), Oracle technically enforces the “special relationship,” making it difficult for the US to decouple from Israeli military operations even if political winds shift. The interoperability provided by a shared cloud infrastructure creates a “technical lock-in” for diplomatic and military alliance.
The audit identifies a fiduciary risk in this ideological commitment. By tethering the company so closely to the policies of a specific government engaged in controversial military actions, Oracle leadership exposes shareholders to reputational damage, boycott risks, and potential legal liability under emerging human rights due diligence laws in Europe. The decision to build a massive bunker in a conflict zone (Jerusalem) is an investment decision driven as much by ideology as by economics, potentially misallocating capital to assets that are high-value military targets.
Based on the evidence gathered, we apply the Digital Complicity Matrix (DCM). This framework evaluates tech companies on four dimensions: Infrastructure, Operations, Data, and Governance.
| Dimension | Criteria | Oracle’s Performance |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Infrastructure | Physical presence, resilience, and dedicated defense hardware. | Built a nuclear-proof bunker in Jerusalem; deployed ruggedized “Roving Edge” servers to the battlefield. |
| 2. Operations | Direct integration into lethal kill chains (Kinetic Action). | Hosts “Fire Weaver” sensor-to-shooter system; supports Civil Admin demolition workflows. |
| 3. Data | Surveillance capabilities, data brokerage, and population registries. | Manages Population Registry; “Mabat 2000” backend; BlueKai/ID Graph surveillance potential. |
| 4. Governance | Ideological intent, suppression of dissent, and refusal of due diligence. | Explicit Zionist leadership; suppression of employee dissent; rejection of human rights boycotts. |