JLens, a Registered advisor for Jewish investments, and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), on Tuesday urged shareholders of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) to vote AGAINST a shareholder proposal they say aims to harm Israel by pressuring the company to cut business ties with the country.
Alphabet Inc. is the parent company of Google, overseeing its diverse businesses, including search, advertising, cloud computing, YouTube, and AI, with a focus on innovation, technology, and global impact.
The proposal, known as Proposal 9, is scheduled for a vote at Alphabet’s annual meeting on June 6, 2025. It targets Alphabet’s involvement in “Project Nimbus,” which provides cloud-computing services used by both the IDF and for civilian purposes.
The IDF’s elite intelligence Unit 8200 has successfully integrated artificial intelligence (AI) into its military operations, proving to be a game-changer during the Gaza war. A notable example is the targeted elimination of Ibrahim Biari, commander of Hamas’s Jabaliya Battalion and a key figure behind the October 7 massacre. Israeli intelligence pinpointed his location through AI-enhanced audio analysis, enabling a precise and effective strike.
The proposal calls for an independent third-party report assessing whether Alphabet’s products and services contribute to human rights abuses in “conflict-affected and high-risk areas” (CAHRA):
“In a letter to shareholders, the company stressed that its Human Rights Policy commits Alphabet to “responsible decision-making around emerging technologies.” The letter notes: “Research indicates that Alphabet is providing products and services to customers in CAHRA, which may be contributing to violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) and human rights, including:
“Providing cloud computing technology, through Project Nimbus, to the Israeli government, including the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), raising ethical, legal, and reputational risk concerns among Google executives and employees. Project Nimbus has reportedly supported IDF operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including AI-powered facial recognition and sentiment analysis and the enabling of Israel’s AI-assisted targeting systems.”
JLens and ADL argue the proposal is politically motivated and seeks to delegitimize Israel under the guise of corporate social responsibility.
Incidentally, the Board of Directors of Alphabet has already recommended that their shareholders vote AGAINST the above-noted shareholder proposal.
ADL and JLens believe that Proposal 9 misrepresents “Project Nimbus” by portraying it solely as a military initiative, while ignoring its broad civilian applications across Israel’s ministries of finance, healthcare, education, and transportation. At the same time, the proposal disregards the urgent and lawful need for modern defense technologies, especially in the wake of the October 7, 2023, terror attacks, which killed over 1,200 people and took hundreds hostage. Alphabet’s cloud services play a vital role in both safeguarding Israeli civilians and strengthening essential public infrastructure, making this proposal not only misleading but dangerously out of touch with the realities on the ground.
“Alphabet’s shareholders should see this proposal for what it is: an attempt to misuse the proxy process to advance a divisive political agenda that has no place in corporate governance,” said Ari Hoffnung, Managing Director of JLens. “Proposal 9 not only distorts the purpose of Project Nimbus—it also risks undermining shareholder value by inserting geopolitics into decisions about lawful, commercially sound partnerships.”
“Proposal 9 offers the pretense of concern for human rights when in fact it is a thinly disguised ploy to weaken Israel’s national security—and to undermine its right to defend itself—by pressuring Alphabet to withhold vital technology that supports the country’s self-defense capabilities,” said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, CEO and National Director of ADL. “We believe this proposal is closely aligned with the objectives of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, whose goal is to delegitimize the State of Israel.”
On April 17, 2024, Google terminated 28 employees who participated in a 10-hour sit-in at its New York and Sunnyvale, California, offices, protesting the company’s business ties with the Israeli government.
According to Google’s Vice President of Global Security, Chris Rackow, the employees occupied office space, disrupted operations, and made other staff feel unsafe. “They took over office spaces, defaced our property, and physically impeded the work of other Googlers,” Rackow stated in a company-wide memo. “Their behavior was unacceptable, extremely disruptive, and made co-workers feel threatened.” The employees were dismissed following an internal investigation.
