Microsoft Sacks Two Employees for Protesting Israel Ties
(MENAFN) Microsoft announced on Thursday that it had dismissed two employees following an unauthorized entry into President Brad Smith’s office earlier this week amid protests against the company’s alleged connections to Israel, according to media reports.
The dismissals followed a protest on Tuesday at Microsoft’s Redmond campus, where seven current and former employees took part. The group, No Azure for Apartheid, broke into Smith’s office to demand that the company end what they characterized as direct and indirect support for Israel in its conflict with Gaza.
No Azure for Apartheid, a collective named after Microsoft’s cloud service Azure, revealed on Instagram that the two employees terminated were Riki Fameli and Anna Hattle.
“Two employees were terminated today following serious breaches of company policies and our code of conduct,” a Microsoft spokesperson told media.
Microsoft condemned the incidents as “unlawful break-ins” into executive offices, noting they violated expected workplace conduct.
During Tuesday’s protest inside Smith’s office in Building 34, activists chanted slogans and displayed banners. One sign renamed the space the “Mai Ubeid Building,” paying tribute to a Palestinian software engineer from Gaza killed by an Israeli airstrike in 2023. Another banner called on Microsoft to “cut ties with Israel,” along with other demands.
Reports indicated that police arrested all seven individuals who entered the office.
Media previously reported that Microsoft has been contending with a “small but persistent revolt” over the past year, with employees pressuring the company to sever its business ties with Israel amidst the ongoing Gaza conflict.
The company has reportedly enlisted the FBI’s assistance and cooperated with local authorities to monitor and curb protest activities.
This latest action follows revelations that Israel’s Unit 8200 allegedly utilized Microsoft Azure to store recordings of Palestinian phone calls. Earlier this year, Media exposed Microsoft’s collaboration with Israel’s Defense Ministry to process intelligence for military target selection.
In response, Microsoft said its internal review found no proof that Azure or its AI tools were used to harm or target individuals in Gaza. The company has not released the review but promised to share factual findings from a subsequent review prompted by media once completed.
Since October 2023, Israeli military operations have killed nearly 63,000 Palestinians in Gaza, leaving the territory devastated and on the brink of famine, with many areas rendered uninhabitable.
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