Project Nimbus

Project Nimbus is led by the Government Procurement Administration within the Accountant General division of Israel’s Ministry of Finance.[1] Conceived as a multi-year, large-scale flagship project, it provides a government-wide framework for obtaining public cloud services rather than simply purchasing a single computing application.[1] Its institutional participants include the Israel National Digital Agency, the Finance Ministry’s legal and budget divisions, the Israel National Cyber Directorate, the Ministry of Defense, and the Israel Defense Forces.[1]

The initiative encompasses the infrastructure on which government systems operate, the policies governing their migration, and the professional assistance needed to move and integrate those systems.[5] It also includes arrangements for monitoring cloud use and optimizing expenditure, alongside procurement channels through which ministries can obtain third-party products.[1] Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services, or AWS, supply the principal public cloud services.[1]

Local infrastructure is central to the project: the winning providers were to establish cloud sites in Israel, with information processed and maintained in the country under security rules overseen by the relevant government authorities.[6] The transition was described as a move away from locally maintained computing infrastructure toward cloud infrastructure.[6] Government ministries and authorities were to be able to transfer their data and services to the providers’ cloud systems.[6]

The stated purposes extend beyond replacing existing hardware.[7] Nimbus was intended to make shared information more accessible, including remotely, simplify services for citizens, and reduce the need to purchase and manage separate systems, software, and infrastructure for individual applications.[7] When Google’s Israeli cloud region opened in 2022, the government identified more effective services, faster digital delivery, and lower operating expenses as intended benefits.[3]

Work on Project Nimbus began at the start of 2019.[1] Its early formulation comprised four parts: acquiring and constructing cloud infrastructure, establishing government migration policy, integrating and migrating systems, and monitoring and optimizing cloud activity.[5] The public-cloud component was intended to allow government services either to move existing operations onto a public cloud platform or to begin operating there.[5]

In April 2021, Israel selected AWS and Google Cloud ahead of Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM in the cloud-services tender.[8] The announced scope included cloud infrastructure for government ministries and authorities and the IDF; the Finance Ministry described Nimbus as serving government, the defense system, and other parts of the economy.[8] The estimated initial investment was NIS 4 billion, reported as approximately US$1.2 billion.[6] Google also announced in April that it would establish local cloud infrastructure in Israel.[9]

The procurement process extended beyond selecting infrastructure providers.[2] A contemporary description distinguished four tenders: public cloud services, government cloud strategy, technical migration assistance, and optimization of cloud use.[2] Google and AWS won the public-cloud component, while KPMG was selected to help establish a government Cloud Center of Excellence.[2] The optimization tender had not yet been published at the time of that report, and the government was also pursuing a tender through which local small and medium-sized suppliers could assist with migration and cloud-based development.[2]

At the May 2021 signing, Google and AWS committed to establishing local cloud regions within two years.[10] Until those regions were available, services were to be supplied through infrastructure in the Netherlands, Germany, and Ireland.[10] The agreement provided for a minimum seven-year service period, with extensions potentially bringing the total to 23 years.[10] After the first seven years, Israel could add suppliers or cease using the existing providers.[11]

The providers also agreed to reciprocal purchases and industrial cooperation in Israel equivalent to 20 percent of the contract’s value.[10] Accountant General Yahli Rotenberg indicated that Israel had obtained prices approximately 20 percent below the providers’ global list prices, although comparable prices paid by other governments were not available in the reporting.[10] Approximately 3,000 Israelis were expected to be employed full-time in connection with the cloud projects.[10]

In July 2021, Google Cloud’s Israel Country Director Boaz Maoz said the company regarded Nimbus as strategically important and had spent two years working on the tender.[12] Google planned three Israeli data centers, as required by the tender, and said it would use two overseas locations meeting the required standards during the interim period.[12] Maoz stated that Israel would determine where its information was stored and what was done with it, and that Google would honor the agreement.[12]

Oracle challenged the tender, but Jerusalem’s District Court dismissed its petition in October 2021.[13] The published ruling identified a National Cyber Directorate position paper finding major gaps between Oracle’s bid and the tender requirements, including information-security concerns.[13] The court held that the tender committee was not obliged to select three winners when bids failed to meet professional criteria.[13] It also rejected Oracle’s arguments concerning the winning bids’ security and Amazon’s filing, and ordered Oracle to pay NIS 90,000 in legal expenses to each respondent.[13] Oracle maintained that the court had erred and said it intended to appeal.[13]

Google launched its local Israeli cloud region in October 2022.[3] The Finance Ministry said the opening would permit government computer systems to move to locally situated cloud infrastructure.[3] At that point, AWS was expected to activate its own local region in the first half of 2023.[3]

Adoption nevertheless proceeded more slowly than the contract award alone might suggest.[14] A 2023 account, published 30 months after Google and AWS won the tender, found that many ministries, government companies, and hospitals continued to use Microsoft services, while joint projects with the Nimbus providers remained limited.[14] Delays were attributed to the timing of cloud-region launches, extended negotiations with software suppliers, and pending tenders and approvals for applications needed in the cloud environment.[14] Some systems had begun preparing for migration, including the Cyber Directorate with Google and the Transport Ministry with AWS.[14]

The government’s framework organizes Nimbus into five central layers, beginning with public cloud services supplied by AWS and Google.[1] A second layer addresses government cloud policy and the Cloud Center of Excellence, while a third provides consultation, migration, and integration assistance.[1] The remaining layers cover financial and operational oversight through FinOps and access to third-party services through a government digital marketplace.[1] That marketplace is built on the AWS and Google marketplaces, allowing ministries to procure additional services through the Nimbus framework.[1]

These layers bring together infrastructure procurement and the practical work of changing how government systems are run.[1] Under the project’s stated structure, acquiring cloud capacity is accompanied by assistance with migration and integration, government-level policy development, and ongoing monitoring of expenditure and use.[1] The Procurement Administration is also working on related areas that include cybersecurity, customer relationship management, and productivity and collaboration services.[1]

The local cloud sites were intended to keep information processed and maintained within Israel under strict security requirements.[6] The 2021 tender covered cloud services for government ministries, authorities, and the IDF, with information maintained in Israel under security guidelines.[6] Before the local regions became available, the signing arrangements provided for the use of European infrastructure.[10] Google’s subsequent launch therefore supplied the local infrastructure through which government systems could move to its Israeli region.[3]

Applications identified in 2025 included finance, healthcare, education, and transportation, alongside use by the IDF.[15] The initiative’s broader administrative objectives included improving access to shared data, enabling remote access, and simplifying services delivered to citizens.[7] It was also intended to reduce the duplication involved in buying and maintaining separate infrastructure and software for each application.[7]

The project’s professional discussions involved security and defense institutions as well as civilian administrative bodies.[1] Officials from the National Cyber Directorate, IDF, National Security Council, and Director of Security of the Defense Establishment participated in early discussions.[7] A 2022 description distinguished that consultation from the handling of classified defense and security information, which it described as remaining separate from civilian networks.[7]

The government identifies Nimbus as a flagship framework for public cloud services, linking the modernization of government computing to a multi-year procurement and implementation program.[1] Its significance for public administration lies in the stated combination of infrastructure, migration policy, integration assistance, and continuing oversight of cloud use.[1] The intended service improvements include faster digital delivery and more effective government operations, with reduced operating expenses among the government’s stated aims.[3]

The establishment of local cloud infrastructure also had an anticipated role beyond government ministries.[9] Google’s Israeli cloud offering was expected to improve services available to the country’s startup industry.[9] Local small and medium-sized suppliers were envisaged as participants in moving government systems and developing cloud-based applications.[2] The providers’ reciprocal-purchase and industrial-cooperation commitments amounted to 20 percent of the contract value.[10]

Government projections accompanying Google’s 2022 cloud-region launch estimated that the region alone could add US$7.6 billion to Israel’s gross domestic product by 2030 and support more than 21,000 jobs in high-tech and related sectors.[3] These figures were projections, rather than measured economic outcomes.[3] The earlier expectation of approximately 3,000 full-time Israeli jobs concerned employment connected with the cloud projects themselves.[10]

Nimbus’s time horizon is also substantial: the original seven-year service period could, through extensions, reach 23 years.[10] The option to add or replace providers after seven years formed part of the reported contractual arrangements.[11] Together with the government-wide migration framework and the establishment of local cloud regions, those terms placed Nimbus within a long-term program for changing public-sector computing.[1][10]

The signing of the Google and Amazon agreements in 2021 prompted the No Tech for Apartheid campaign, spearheaded by Jewish Voice for Peace and MPower Change.[16] An October 2021 anonymous open letter calling for withdrawal from Nimbus was attributed to 90 Google employees and more than 300 Amazon employees.[17] The campaigners appealed to the companies’ stated ethical commitments, saying: “Google and Amazon leadership have made commitments to upholding human rights and behaving ethically—and we expect you to live up to those commitments.”[16]

Shareholder resolutions became another avenue of opposition.[18] In 2022, the coalition pursued resolutions at Alphabet and Amazon seeking due-diligence reports addressing surveillance technology and potential human-rights violations.[18] The Alphabet resolution was filed by Ed Feigen, a Jewish Voice for Peace member who had held Google shares since 2014.[18] Neither resolution passed.[18]

At Alphabet’s annual meeting on June 1, 2022, shareholders rejected the proposal seeking a report reassessing Google’s role in Nimbus.[19] The recorded vote was 544,653,039 against, 55,301,799 in favor, and 3,825,111 abstentions.[19] Alphabet’s board had recommended a vote against it.[19]

The campaign continued its shareholder activity in 2023 with an Amazon proposal seeking oversight of how customers used the company’s products.[20] The proposal received significant support but did not secure a majority.[20] Its scope also encompassed domestic privacy concerns involving Ring and possible abuses by law enforcement, rather than addressing Nimbus alone.[20]

Employee organizing included petitions, resignations, and informal outreach inside Google.[21] More than 600 Google employees signed a petition opposing the company’s sponsorship of a conference held on March 4, 2024.[21] Google employee Vidana Abdel Khalek resigned in opposition to Nimbus three days after Eddie Hatfield was fired.[21] Software engineer Hasan Ibraheem described repeated “Ask me about Project Nimbus” sessions at office cafes, where employees distributed flyers and answered colleagues’ questions.[21] He said: “It’s actually shocking how many people at Google don’t even know that this contract exists.”[4]

In April 2024, dozens of Google employees staged sit-ins at company offices in New York City and Sunnyvale, California, demanding that Google and Amazon cancel their Nimbus work.[4] No Tech for Apartheid organized the action, with its coalition including technology workers, MPower Change, and Jewish Voice for Peace.[4] The sit-ins took place in Google Cloud chief executive Thomas Kurian’s Sunnyvale office and a commons area at the New York office.[4] Outdoor demonstrations also occurred in San Francisco and Seattle.[4]

Google security accused sit-in participants of trespassing and disrupting work.[21] Some participants left, while others said they would remain until forced out.[21] Google subsequently announced that it had fired 28 employees, saying protesters had disrupted work and physically impeded access to facilities.[22] Workers later filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board seeking reinstatement.[23]

Shareholder campaigning also continued in 2024.[24] Amazon’s Proposal 6 sought to end the company’s participation in Nimbus, while proxy adviser ISS and Amazon’s board recommended voting against it.[24] At Alphabet in 2025, Proposal 9 called for an independent report on potential human-rights harms in conflict-affected and high-risk areas.[15] Alphabet’s board recommended that shareholders oppose that proposal.[15]

Opponents have alleged that Nimbus could facilitate surveillance and unlawful collection of information about Palestinians, support settlement expansion, and provide artificial intelligence that could be used against Palestinians.[17][20] These are allegations about the project’s potential consequences, rather than established findings about particular system uses in the collected reporting.[17][20] Protesters in 2024 also alleged that Google had removed Nimbus-related comments from internal forums and had failed to address their concerns.[4]

Public descriptions of the project’s defense-related scope differ.[7][8] The 2021 tender announcement included infrastructure for the IDF and defense system, and a 2025 description identified both IDF and civilian applications.[8][15] A separate 2022 account characterized the migration plan as excluding military and security systems and keeping classified information belonging to defense and security bodies separate from civilian networks.[7] Google said in 2024 that the contract was “not directed at highly sensitive, classified, or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services.”[22] These descriptions do not establish an identical boundary between general government or defense use and sensitive military workloads.[7][22]

The April 2024 dismissals generated a further dispute.[22] Google attributed them to workplace disruption and obstruction, while No Tech for Apartheid called them retaliation and said some dismissed employees had not directly participated in the protest.[22] Campaign members argued that Nimbus supported the development of Israeli government military tools; Google responded with its statement limiting the contract’s relationship to sensitive, classified, weapons-related, or intelligence workloads.[22]