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Microsoft employees staged a sit-in at the Redmond campus, accusing the company of enabling Israeli military operations in Gaza.
The protest was organised by the activist group No Azure for Genocide.
Dozens of Microsoft employees and former staff staged a sit-in at the company’s campus in Redmond, Washington, accusing the tech giant of enabling Israeli military operations in Gaza through its software. The demonstrators, who declared part of the campus a “Free Zone”, held placards reading “Join the Worker Intifada – No Labor for Genocide” and “Martyred Palestinian Children’s Plaza”. The protest was organised by the activist group No Azure for Genocide, which has been calling on Microsoft to end contracts with Israel and divest from the country.
It comes less than a week after Microsoft said it had launched an independent review into claims that its Azure cloud services were being used by the Israeli military for surveillance.
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Anger Over Surveillance Claims
Earlier this month, reports in the Guardian and Israel’s +972 Magazine alleged that Israel’s military intelligence unit, Unit 8200, had used Azure to store mobile phone recordings of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. The company denied knowledge of such practices, saying, “We are not aware of the surveillance of civilians or collection of their cellphone conversations using Microsoft’s services. Based on these reviews, including interviewing dozens of employees and assessing documents, we have found no evidence to date that Microsoft’s Azure and AI technologies have been used to target or harm people in the conflict in Gaza.”
Employees Escalate Actions
One protester, former employee Hossam Nasr, said the action was prompted by what he described as Microsoft’s inadequate response. He said, “I watched [journalist] Anas al-Sharif report on Gaza relentlessly, through starvation, through extermination campaigns, through bombing. He was intentionally targeted.”
Another employee, Nasreen Jaradat, said, “Every single second that we wait, things are worse and worse in Palestine. More and more people are being bombed and maimed. It’s time for us to escalate, however we can.”
The protest comes amid growing concern from international organisations about the humanitarian situation in Gaza. The UN has warned of “widespread starvation, malnutrition and disease”, while health authorities in Gaza estimate more than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its military response to Hamas’s 7 October attacks.
- Location :
Israel
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