Cisco Systems is one of the most consequential—yet least visible—corporations in Silicon Valley. The San Jose-based networking giant, with a market capitalization in excess of $270 billion and annual revenue of $56.7 billion in 2025, manufactures the routers, switches, firewalls, and communications platforms that run the internet’s infrastructure, as well as many of its worldwide corporate, government, and military networks.
Cisco makes a point of publicly highlighting its commitment to corporate social responsibility, and building “an inclusive future for all” in the dozens of countries around the world in which it operates. Yet the company’s aggressive pursuit of contracts with the Israeli government and military—a small yet growing part of its global business—has led to accusations that behind this sunny facade the networking giant is profiting from genocide.
A new set of leaked documents—provided to Drop Site by whistleblowers disturbed by the company’s operations in Israel—shows Cisco’s deep and growing collaboration with the Israeli military and intelligence establishment in its regional wars and the genocide in Gaza.
In 2025, an Israeli Air Force officer publicly discussed using Cisco-powered infrastructure to support operations. The anonymous officer, identified as the head of the Israeli Air Force’s operational branch, told a tech conference in Israel that the Air Force had conducted “tens of thousands of attacks” in the past year, and described how IT systems had been vital to enabling this combat activity. The officer referenced Cisco infrastructure being used by air force intelligence personnel for communications and managing high volumes of operational data—including the use of networking tools by drone operators and ground forces to store and analyze videos and share coordinates for strikes.
Cisco’s work with the Israeli government and military has been documented in public news reports and new business announcements in the country. But the internal documents—including presentations, purchase and revenue records, and schedules—shed light on the rapidly expanding list of services that Cisco has been providing directly to the Israeli Ministry of Defense and other branches of the security state over the past several years.
Cisco did not respond to a request for comment.
Hellbound and Down 