Microsoft said Friday it had “terminated the employment of certain individuals in accordance with internal policy” but declined to provide details. [File]
Photo courtesy: Reuters
Microsoft has fired two employees who organized an unauthorized vigil at the company’s headquarters for Palestinians killed in Gaza during Israel’s war with Hamas.
Both employees told The Associated Press that they were fired by phone call late Thursday, several hours after a lunch event held at Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, Washington.
Both employees were members of a coalition of employees called “No Azure for Apartheid”, which has protested Microsoft’s sale of its cloud-computing technology to the Israeli government. But he argued that Thursday’s event was similar to other Microsoft-sanctioned employees campaigning for the public. in need.
“There are a lot of members of our community within Microsoft who have lost family, lost friends or loved ones,” said Abdo Mohammed, a researcher and data scientist. “But Microsoft really failed to create that space for us where we could come together and share our grief and honor the memories of those who can no longer speak for themselves.”
Microsoft said Friday it had “terminated the employment of certain individuals in accordance with internal policy” but declined to provide details.
Mohammed, who is from Egypt, said he now needs a new job in the next two months to transfer his work visa and avoid deportation.
Another fired employee, Hossam Nasr, said the purpose of the monitoring was to “honor the victims of the Palestinian massacre in Gaza and draw attention to Microsoft’s complicity in the massacre” because of its technology being used by the Israeli military.
Nasr said his firing was disclosed on social media by the watchdog group Stop Antisemitism more than an hour before he received the call from Microsoft. The group did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday about how it learned of the firing.
The same group a few months ago called on Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to take action against Nasr for his public stance on Israel.
Nasr, who grew up in Egypt and graduated from Harvard University in 2021, is also a co-organizer of Harvard Alumni for Palestine.
Google fired more than 50 employees earlier this year after protests over technology The company has been supplying the Israeli government amid the Gaza war. The firing followed internal turmoil and a sit-in at Google offices focused on “Project Nimbus”, a $1.2 billion contract signed in 2021 for Google and Amazon to provide cloud computing and artificial intelligence services to the Israeli government.
Microsoft said in its statement Friday that it is “dedicated to maintaining a professional and respectful work environment.” “Due to confidentiality and privacy considerations, we cannot provide specific details.”
published – October 28, 2024 08:33 am IST