Digital Rights Weekly Update: 5 - 11 September

Statement by Palestinian Civil Society Organizations in Israel on the U.S. Sanctioning of Leading Palestinian Organizations

7amleh

On 4 September 2025, the U.S. administration added to its sanctions list the renowned Palestinian human rights organizations and our close partners, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, Al-Haq, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR). This decision, taken amid a nearly two-year genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, is illegal; by targeting organizations documenting these atrocities, the U.S. enables Israeli violence while shielding Israel from accountability. For decades, these organizations have been at the forefront of exposing Israel’s systematic violations of international law and pursuing justice before international bodies, including the International Criminal Court (ICC). The undersigned organizations strongly condemn this punitive and politically motivated attack.

Amazon suspends engineer who protested company's work with Israeli government

CNBC

Amazon suspended a software engineer who protested the company’s work with the Israeli government, CNBC has confirmed. Ahmed Shahrour, a Palestinian engineer who works for Amazon’s Whole Foods business and is based in Seattle, was informed Monday morning that he was being suspended with pay “until further notice” after he posted messages on Slack criticizing the company’s ties to Israel.

Google Involved in $45M ‘Hasbara’ Campaign Deal with Israel – Report

Palestine Chronicle

Google is in the middle of a six-month $45 million contract with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office to promote government messages and downplay the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, according to a report by Drop Site News. The contract, signed in late June, describes Google as a “key entity” in supporting Netanyahu’s public relations strategy, the outlet reported. The campaign began days after Israel blocked food, medicine, fuel and other humanitarian supplies from entering Gaza on March 2. Lawmakers questioned officials about whether the government had prepared for the public relations fallout.

Communications and internet outage in large areas of Gaza after the occupation destroys residential towers

Quds Press

The violent Israeli bombardment that targeted residential towers in Gaza City over the past two days has led to a deterioration in cellular communications and an internet outage in large areas of the city, following the collapse of transmission towers installed on the roofs of these buildings. Palestinian citizens told a Quds Press correspondent that they have been suffering from a continuous outage of services in the Jawwal and Ooredoo telecommunications networks since yesterday, especially in the southwestern area of ​​the city. This followed the destruction of the Mashta and Al-Sousi towers, which housed major transmission towers.