Five Microsoft employees were removed from a conference on February 24 for protesting company services to the IDF.
During the meeting, as Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella spoke, the five protest participants stood, each wearing a shirt displaying one word and one letter that collectively spelled out the sentence, "Does our code kill kids, Satya?"
The incident happened without delaying the meeting, and Nadella ignored the protesters. According to photos and videos taken by other conference attendees, the five protesters were seen being escorted out of the room.
The protest was due to Microsoft providing the IDF with sophisticated AI models and its Azure cloud computing platforms. The protestors are connected to the No Tech for Apartheid and No Azure for Apartheid campaigns.
No Tech For Apartheid connects workers from Amazon, Google, and Microsoft to end their contracts with the IDF and the government. No Azure for Apartheid is the coalition of around 1,000 Microsoft employees protesting for Microsoft executives to terminate contracts between the IDF and the Israeli government.
No Azure for Apartheid also calls for Microsoft to disclose all their services to the IDF and Israeli government, publicly call for a ceasefire, and protect all employees who are protecting pro-Palestinian actions, including internal fundraising initiatives on company platforms.
On their website, the organization calls for a “demand that Microsoft live up to its own purported ethical values—by ending its direct and indirect complicity in Israeli apartheid and genocide.”
Firing of two pro-Palestinian employees
This incident occurred following the firing of two employees in October for organizing an unauthorized vigil during lunch. One of the two employees fired was Egyptian-raised, Harvard University graduate Hossam Nasr, who said the purpose of the vigil was “to honor the victims of the Palestinian genocide in Gaza and to call attention to Microsoft’s complicity in the genocide”.
The other employee fired in October, Abdo Mohamed, also from Egypt, “The demands are clear,” said Mohamed “Satya Nadella and Microsoft executives need to answer to their workers by dropping contracts with the Israeli military.”
Mohamad is also involved in the group No Azure for Apartheid. In a statement made by Microsoft, Nasr and Mohamed were terminated in compliance with internal policy.
“We provide many avenues for all voices to be heard,” Microsoft said in a statement provided to AP news, following the protest in February.
“Importantly, we ask that this be done in a way that does not cause a business disruption. If that happens, we ask participants to relocate. We are committed to ensuring our business practices uphold the highest standards.”