Update (05/13/26): Microsoft has published a statement announcing that Microsoft’s Israel GM Alon Haimovich will be stepping down from his position on May 31 of this year, and will now embark on a “new professional path” in the fields of technology and artificial intelligence.
In a letter sent to the company’s employees in Israel, Haimovich wrote: “Microsoft, and Microsoft Israel in particular, have shaped both my professional and personal journey since the day I joined in 2019. Together, we built something truly meaningful, steering through complexity and change, positioning Israel as one of Microsoft’s fastest-growing markets worldwide. We accelerated cloud and AI adoption, launched local cloud infrastructure, strengthened our cybersecurity work, and reinforced Microsoft’s role as the strategic platform for startups across Israel. But above all these achievements, one thing defines Microsoft Israel more than anything else: the people.”
Microsoft says it will announce Haimovich’s successor “in due course.”
Moreover, Globes reports that Microsoft Israel is now being managed directly by Microsoft France. This information is not accurate, Game Developer understands.
Original report: Alon Haimovich, the country general manager at Microsoft Israel, reportedly left the company last week after a four-year tenure.
As reported by Globes, Haimovich’s departure reportedly took place after an investigation by Microsoft’s global management team into Microsoft Israel’s work with the Ministry of Defense.
Globes reports that the investigation was conducted over concern that the company’s code of ethics had been violated, referring to the alleged unethical use of Microsoft Azure. Microsoft has faced widespread condemnation over the company’s widely-reported ties to the Israeli regime and its military surveillance agency, including reporting conducted by The Guardian.
According to the Globes report, several managers in Microsoft Israel’s governance department have also left their positions. The publication also learned that the global management team has decided that, for the time being, Microsoft Israel will be managed directly by Microsoft France.
As Globes reports, here’s the general timeline: several weeks ago, an investigation team from Microsoft arrived in Israel to examine the center’s activities. In particular, the focus was on the sales department responsible for working with Israel’s Ministry of Defense.
Haimovich was reportedly also summoned due to a claim that Israel’s management did not conduct itself with full transparency (regarding the manner in which the Ministry of Defense uses Microsoft’s systems).
Reportedly, there was concern that units were operating in a non-transparent way that violated Microsoft’s terms of use, which exposed it to legal and regulatory risks in Europe.
Microsoft ‘ceased and disabled’ Azure services back in September
In September, around a month after the Guardian article was published, Microsoft publicly stated that the company “found evidence that supports elements of The Guardian’s reporting.” As such, it announced it was shutting down some services it provides to the Israeli Ministry of Defense following the allegations that Azure technology was being used to surveil Palestinians.
Alongside the report by The Guardian, the move to stop services also came after a UN special report decreed Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide, stating plainly “that the Israeli authorities and Israeli forces have committed and are continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.”
Microsoft is also acting in the context of the BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanctions) protest movement’s pressure on the company, which opens its page on the tech giant with “Microsoft is perhaps the most complicit tech company in Israel’s illegal apartheid regime and ongoing genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza.”
Last year, STJV union members at Arkane Studios in France joined the BDS movement in calling for parent company Microsoft to end its support for the Israeli regime, publishing an open letter online.
“We think that Microsoft has no place being accomplice of a genocide, and as Microsoft employees, we don’t want to be part of this sinister project for Gaza. Moreover, we think it’s our responsibility, as tech workers, to raise the alarm, and to ensure that our technologies are used to make the voices of the oppressed heard, and not facilitate their demise,” read the open letter at the time.
In addition, a number of current and former Microsoft workers and community members held quarter at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond Washington, as part of a No Azure for Apartheid protest.
Game Developer has contacted Microsoft for clarification on the matter.