When Google and Amazon sealed a $1.2 billion cloud-computing contract with the Israeli government in 2021, they agreed to more than just technical terms. According to a leak-based investigation by The Guardian, "Israel" insisted on a clandestine addition, a covert signal system known as the “winking mechanism".

The unusual demand required the two tech giants to discreetly alert Israeli authorities whenever they were compelled to share Israeli data with foreign law enforcement agencies.

In practice, this meant finding a way to bypass global legal disclosure limits, a move that could place the companies in potential conflict with international law.

Secret signal hidden in the cloud

Governments worldwide routinely request access to customer data from major cloud firms to aid criminal investigations, often under strict gag orders. But for "Israel", the prospect of its data ending up in foreign hands posed an acute security concern. To address that, officials devised an encrypted warning system: whenever Google or Amazon complied with a foreign subpoena, they would covertly signal "Israel" through coded financial transactions.

The companies reportedly agreed to the scheme, dubbed the “winking mechanism”, to secure the lucrative Project Nimbus contract, according to leaked documents obtained by The Guardian in collaboration with Israeli outlet +972 Magazine and Israeli publication Local Call.

The leaked records detail how the two tech firms accepted a set of “stringent and unorthodox” conditions demanded by "Israel", which sought to retain absolute control over its data. Both Google and Amazon have denied violating any legal obligations.

Unprecedented control clauses

The Nimbus agreement also barred Google and Amazon from restricting or suspending access to their services for Israeli government agencies,  including security and military bodies, regardless of how their cloud tools were used. Even if the companies found "Israel" in breach of their own terms of service, they were contractually prevented from cutting access.

Israeli negotiators introduced these controls to guard against a future in which employee activism or shareholder pressure might push US tech firms to halt cooperation with "Israel" over human rights abuses in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Officials were also wary of potential legal challenges in foreign jurisdictions tied to "Israel’s" use of cloud technology in military operations in Gaza and the West Bank.

The restrictions stand in stark contrast to Microsoft’s approach, which recently suspended the Israeli military’s use of certain Azure services after discovering they powered an extensive surveillance network intercepting Palestinian communications. Microsoft, which lost its bid for the Nimbus contract after refusing similar terms, said it “was not in the business of facilitating the mass surveillance of civilians.”

A cloud war during a ground war

Google and Amazon’s roles have come under increased scrutiny amid "Israel’s" two-year genocide in Gaza. A UN commission has found "Israel" responsible for acts amounting to genocide, while its military has leaned heavily on cloud systems to manage intelligence and surveillance data.

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Intelligence officials told The Guardian that "Israel" had planned to move a trove of intercepted Palestinian phone calls, previously stored on Microsoft’s servers, to Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Amazon declined to comment on whether it was aware of that plan, stating only that it “respects the privacy of our customers and does not discuss our relationship without their consent, or have visibility into their workloads.”

When asked about the “winking mechanism", both companies rejected claims that they had sidestepped the law. “The idea that we would evade our legal obligations to the US government as a US company, or in any other country, is categorically wrong,” said a Google spokesperson, adding that “this appears to be yet another attempt to falsely imply otherwise.”

Yet Israeli Finance Ministry documents suggest otherwise. They describe how, after tough negotiations, Google and Amazon agreed to “subordinate” their standard contractual terms to meet Israeli requirements. “The companies understand the sensitivities of the Israeli government and are willing to accept our requirements,” one government memo stated.

Inside the 'winking mechanism'

Project Nimbus, named after the towering cloud formations, spans an initial seven years, with an option for renewal. It is the Israeli government’s flagship initiative to move state and military data into local data centers operated by Google and Amazon.

Although the information is hosted within "Israel", officials feared that changes in US or European law might still allow foreign agencies to subpoena it. Their solution: a secret "wink".

Winking through 'special compensation' payment

Leaked documents from "Israel’s" Finance Ministry show that if either company were compelled to hand over Israeli data to a foreign authority, they must notify the government by sending a coded “special compensation” payment within 24 hours.

The code corresponded to the foreign country’s telephone prefix, for instance, a payment of 1,000 shekels for the US (+1), 3,900 shekels for Italy (+39), and 100,000 shekels if even signaling the country’s identity was prohibited.

Legal experts described the setup as highly irregular. Some warned it might breach US law, which prohibits companies from revealing the existence of certain subpoenas. “It seems awfully cute,” said a former US government lawyer. “If a court understood what was happening, I doubt it would be sympathetic.”

Another former security official called the idea “kind of brilliant, but risky.”

Israeli officials themselves appeared to acknowledge the danger, noting in internal communications that the “requirements might collide with US law,” forcing the companies to choose between “violating the contract or violating their legal obligations,” as per the piece.

Neither Google nor Amazon responded to questions about whether they had ever used the secret code. “We do not have any processes in place to circumvent our confidentiality obligations on lawfully binding orders,” Amazon claimed.

'No restrictions' clause

Beyond the secret alert system, the Nimbus agreement imposed sweeping limits on how Google and Amazon could govern their relationship with "Israel".

Government documents reveal that the companies cannot revoke or restrict "Israel’s" access to their cloud services for political, ethical, or policy reasons. As long as "Israel" does not breach copyright laws or resell the technology, “the government is permitted to make use of any service that is permitted by Israeli law,” according to an internal Finance Ministry analysis.

An Israeli official familiar with Nimbus confirmed that there could be “no restrictions” on what information is uploaded, including sensitive military and intelligence data. “Israel is entitled to migrate to the cloud or generate in the cloud any content data they wish,” the document states.

Shielding 'Israel'

The clause was designed to shield "Israel" from corporate backlash or activist campaigns that might pressure tech firms to halt services linked to human rights violations.

In contrast, Microsoft’s decision last month to cut Israeli access to its AI and cloud products, citing “serious harm to civilians,” would be strictly prohibited under Nimbus. Such a move by Google or Amazon would be deemed “discriminatory” and could trigger fines and legal repercussions, as per the piece.

A spokesperson for "Israel’s" Finance Ministry told The Guardian that the companies were “bound by stringent contractual obligations that safeguard Israel’s vital interests” and dismissed The Guardian’s findings as “baseless insinuations".

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