Microsoft Employees Rally to Protest Company’s Ties with Israel
(MENAFN) A group of demonstrators, including current and former Microsoft employees, staged a protest at the company’s Redmond, Washington headquarters, condemning its connections to the Israeli military during the ongoing Gaza war, media reports stated.
The demonstration was organized by the activist group No Azure for Apartheid, named after Microsoft’s leading cloud platform, Azure.
Protesters gathered inside the office of Microsoft President Brad Smith in Building 34, chanting slogans and displaying banners. One sign rebranded the office as the “Mai Ubeid Building,” in tribute to a Palestinian software engineer from Gaza who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in 2023. Another banner demanded Microsoft “cut ties with Israel,” among other calls.
Police arrested seven individuals who had entered Smith’s office during the protest, according to reports.
Media previously highlighted a “small but persistent revolt” among Microsoft employees over the past year, urging the company to sever business ties with Israel amid the escalating Gaza conflict.
Microsoft reportedly enlisted FBI assistance and coordinated with local law enforcement to monitor and suppress protests.
This latest protest follows revelations that Israel’s Unit 8200 used Microsoft Azure to store recordings of Palestinian phone calls. Earlier this year, media exposed Microsoft’s partnership with Israel’s Defense Ministry to process intelligence for target selection.
Following media report, Microsoft said an internal investigation found no indications that Azure or its AI technologies were utilized to target or harm individuals in Gaza. While the company has not released the full review, it committed to providing factual findings from a subsequent inquiry initiated by media outlets once it is finalized.
Since October 2023, Israeli military operations have killed nearly 63,000 Palestinians in Gaza, leaving the enclave devastated and facing famine, rendering it nearly uninhabitable.
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