Massive Leak Reveals Secret Israeli Settlement Contracts

Yesterday, at 9:07 PM, a DarkForums user posted a sample from a database leak purportedly exfiltrated from the Government Procurement Administration. The leak was marked as Public Tender & Contract Database, containing 217,978 records from mr.gov.il.

Our researchers have confirmed the validity of the compromise and verified that exfiltrated data pertains to a public procurement dataset from the Israeli government’s online tender portal. It documents contracts awarded without public bidding, often through legal exemptions or extensions.

Each entry includes the following details:

• Government ministry involved
• Type of contract exemption (i.e., continuation, foreign transaction)
• Publication date
• Monetary value
• Vendor name and company registration number
• Link to official publication page
• Score field (possibly for transparency ranking)

Upon examining the contents of the breached data, we found that it contains no personal identifying information. It contains a single entry that mentions a person’s full name, but since it's connected to a public contract for legal services, it is likely not confidential. This means that the information in the dataset isn’t necessarily sensitive. Despite that, there is a wealth of information that may not be realized at first glance.

What the Data Breach Reveals

After a careful analysis of the dataset, whether known by the user who leaked it, the records reveal which Israeli ministries are funding infrastructure in the West Bank or the Golan Heights. This includes contractors and engineering firms that are directly involved in building and expanding infrastructure on disputed land.

For example, the record shows multiple building projects related to roads and security infrastructure in El Rom, which is in the occupied Golan Heights. This could ostensibly be perceived as vital to settlement entrenchment.

Moreover, the dataset shows contracts for development, lighting, and topographic surveying in the city of Beitar Illit, which is one of the largest and fastest developing Israeli settlements of Ultra Orthodox in the occupied West Bank.

The city was granted its legal status as a “city” in 2001 under Israeli civil jurisdiction, but under International law, its occupation was declared illegal by the United Nations, the European Union, and the International Court of Justice. Israel does not recognize the West Bank as “occupied” in the sense international law defines it, but refers to the land as “disputed territory.”

International law rejects this view, but considering the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) as occupied territory under military occupation, thus, the transfer of Israeli civilians to these territories is interpreted as a violation of Article 49(6) of the Fourth Geneva Convention:

“The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”

After concluding the analysis, I wonder if the individual who leaked the dataset on the forum knew what they were freely leaking, without asking for a single dollar. After all, the person made no mention of settlements in disputed territories, but simply offered a summary of the dataset itself, not what it was connected to.