Having servers in Israel means you are materially tied to them now? Making this jump to liken it to Epstein or Palantir is kinda wild imo
this post was submitted on 20 Feb 2026
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Having servers in Israel means you are materially tied to them now?
Yes, absolutely. Profiting from servers under genocidal control is literally being materially tied to genocide.
Like I hear what you're saying. I'm on the fuck Israel train as much as everyone but how does them hosting servers in that region support genocide? Are they giving money to the Israeli government? Defending the IDF?
Like there is McDonald's in Israel does that mean McDonald's is complicit in genocide? (I actually don't know if they give money to support Israel but my point is more broad than that and might be a bad example)
Edit: Also for the McD's example I guess they make money off of Israelis but I still posit that is different to a large degree with being complicit in genocide.
hosting servers in that region support genocide?
yes, it's occupied land, it's not like those servers are in tunnels in Gaza, paying fees to Palestinians
It's the same in many places, and more often than not israel is held up as a special example
Fuck McDonald's too tbh
It's not about supporting genocide that I'm concerned about over here per se (though it's obviously not a good look), it's the fact that the region is known for surveillance through any comms that enter it.
Unrelated, but yes, people against genocide literally boycott any businesses that operate in Israel, including McDonalds. BDS movement, for example.
Doing any business with or in Israel is being materially tied to Israel.
Remember me of a guy who said that being paid by the CIA doesnt mean youre actually working for the CIA.
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Having exit nodes for their VPN is not the same as collaborating with the government. There is no evidence that the Israeli government has access to any of their information, their servers are hosted in Switzerland.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't running a VPN to a region require you to have a server in that region?
I wouldn't assume they aren't able to grab it all. Both the US and all 5 eye countries, and Israel, should be avoided if possible, to have nothing passing through their servers. Not that other countries won't also grab it as they can, but Israel by extension of the US has things compromised on a base level.
I have my issues with proton because of its CEO and some weird decisions for their product lone and don't use them at all. I.e. I won't defend this company.
Such a claim without source and explanation or interpretation of assumed implications are pure fear mongering.
Because of this: my advice is to decouple your privacy concerns and thoughts from politics in the first degree (rhetoric and hearsay). Base it ok policies, observable behavior, audits, laws and so on..your example: exit nodes for VPNs don't have an impact on security at all in neither direction. Hosting infrastructure there would (i.e. it would increase potential access and put the infrastructure under additional legal requirements).
The observable behavior is the fact that Israel allows it's communication and intelligence agencies complete legal access to access and monitor any info out of VPNs and other digital social info/comms.
That's been sourced; Israel is known for its surveillance. I'm not sure why that's so controversial.
This isn't fear-mongering, this isn't assumption.
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Do you have information on proton's Israel links? I know they used radware several years ago but no longer do.
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Your ties to Israel claim is more than just a little specious.
Mullvad, widely considered the gold standard for privacy, allows the user to select a server in Israel.
Aside from that nugget, consider not worrying too much about perfect email secrecy. Email isnt private, was never intended to be and has many, many vectors of attack which are so well documented and in such common use that ISPs have attacked email simply to promote end users running their service instead of the competition.
Mullvad doing something — even if it's reknown — doesn't automatically make it's actions good.
Israel conducts surveillance of any VPN communications of any that exist in the region. This is fully legal there. This is a threat to privacy. You'd need to let me know how that isn't the case, not that X or Y company also hosts a server in the region.
Re: mail, not looking for perfect, just better than Gmail, ideally FOSS.
I apologize for not being clearer. Even in my relative youth and ignorance I make broad assumptions about others understanding of the recent histoy of VPNs and omit stuff I think is simply known because naturally everyone who would post on the privacy board has been keeping up with privacy and security news for the last decade.
I made another reply that explains in detail why and how mullvad can be trusted in this situation. Hopefully it’s a little less scattered, but I can clarify anything that seems wrong or weird.
The point I was trying to make about mail was that you’re better off treating it as a postcard that anyone can read than seeking a privacy respecting service. That simple change will improve your posture because you will no longer be communicating private matters in a medium that isn’t private.
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I'm a big fan of mullvad
Mulvad is the first group that really gets me. Good because they care about the idea, cheap because they aren't trying to choke me for money, and they take cash.
but doesnt mullvad have an exit node in Isreal too? Wouldnt that just be the same boat this person (OP) put proton in for?
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You have the ability to whip up this BS about proton, but a web search for “private email provider” was too much?
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There are plenty of problems with Proton, but since they have a VPN service it means they probably have an exit node in Israhell. I'm pretty sure any VPN that masks traffic as coming from Israhell will do the same. I'm not saying that it's not worth looking for one that doesn't do business in Israhell, it just might be hard to find. If you ever need to exit through that node, just make sure your encryption is maxed, with quantum encryption preferably, and avoid doing anything sensitive over that node.
Bad news, the sun shines in Israel and provides illegal settlers with vitamin D therefore it must have ties to genocide. BOYCOTT THE SUN!!!!
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Mullvad or ivpn for vpn, tutanota or posteo for mail.
Also stop looking at advertisements for privacy tools and services.
Mullvad has Israeli servers.
Thanks for the other reccs though!
Ties to Israel are never a good thing.
I think we're on the same page but you might be exaggerating a bit here. Everything is connected in this world.
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Complete bullshit by a trolling OP. Israel is cancer, but OP is doing an obvious smear on Proton to try to agitate leftists. Case in point: Mullvad and most other VPNs have exit nodes in Israel.
It is a dumbfuck corporate decision that has absolutely no more bearing on your VPN's privacy than routing through the US or Australia. You are truly completely confused.
Also "its" doesn't have an apostrophe when used as a possessive, you fucking idiot.
Just because mullvad and most other VPNs do something, doesn't mean it's good.
Israel is known for a level of surveillance that most other countries aren't.
The rest of what you've said is just ad hominem I'm not interested in.
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