Alphabet’s Google has secured unconditional approval from the European Union for its $32 billion acquisition of Israeli cybersecurity company Wiz — a decision that raises renewed scrutiny over the growing integration of Israeli security technologies, many developed in the context of military occupation and surveillance of Palestinians, into global digital infrastructure.
Key Developments
- The European Commission approved Google’s purchase of Wiz without conditions.
- Regulators found the deal would not harm competition in cloud services.
- The acquisition follows earlier clearance by US antitrust authorities.
- Wiz is one of the fastest-growing companies emerging from Israel’s military-linked cyber sector.
- The deal deepens global dependence on technologies originating in an occupation-driven security economy.
EU Approval Despite Surveillance Concerns
The European Commission concluded the takeover would not significantly reduce competition in the European cloud computing market, stating customers would retain alternative providers.
Reuters news agency reported that EU regulators determined Google still trails Amazon and Microsoft in cloud infrastructure share and therefore the transaction would not create market dominance. The Commission also dismissed concerns that access to Wiz data would provide Google with an unfair competitive advantage.
With the European Union and the United States both clearing the transaction, the path toward finalizing one of the largest technology acquisitions in history now appears largely open.
A Cybersecurity Sector Born from Military Control
Wiz was founded in 2020 by Assaf Rappaport, Yinon Costica, Ami Luttwak and Roy Reznik — entrepreneurs shaped by Israel’s military cyber ecosystem.
The company builds cloud-security software that scans digital infrastructure for vulnerabilities, a sector heavily populated by firms whose founders emerged from Israeli intelligence units.
For decades, Israel has leveraged its control over Palestinians as a laboratory for surveillance technologies later commercialized globally. Palestinians live under biometric databases, predictive policing systems, drones, and AI-driven monitoring.
In April 2024, the British newspaper The Guardian reported that Israeli occupation forces deployed the ‘Blue Wolf’ facial recognition system in Hebron (Al-Khalil) to catalogue Palestinians and restrict movement through checkpoints, creating a population-wide surveillance registry.
Human rights groups have repeatedly warned that such systems amount to automated apartheid — where civilians are tracked, categorized and controlled using algorithmic monitoring.
From Occupation to Global Markets
Israeli security technologies are frequently marketed abroad as “battle-tested,” a term widely understood to mean tested during military operations in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Lebanon.
This commercialization model has transformed occupation into exportable expertise. Israeli companies now dominate sectors including spyware, cyber-intelligence, digital forensics and predictive policing.
The global adoption of these technologies normalizes methods first used against Palestinians — embedding occupation-era control systems into civilian digital life worldwide.
