US technology giant Microsoft has fired four employees who participated in protests against the Israeli occupation army’s alleged use of the company’s systems and software in its genocide in the Gaza Strip over the past 23 months.
The protest group No Azure for Apartheid said in a statement on X on Wednesday, August 27, revealed that Anna Hattle and Riki Fameli, were terminated after participating in a sit-in protest earlier this week outside the office of Microsoft President Brad Smith.
According to the group, both received voice messages notifying them of their dismissal.
A day later, on Thursday, August 28, the group announced that two more employees—Nisreen Jaradat and Julius Chan—had also been fired. They had taken part in a protest encampment set up outside Microsoft’s headquarters.
Protests at Microsoft headquarters
The dismissals follow a broader wave of protests. On Tuesday, 26 August, demonstrators including current and former Microsoft employees, activists, and members of the public gathered at the company’s Washington, DC headquarters.
Protesters condemned Microsoft’s cloud services and software support for the Israeli military, accusing the corporation of contributing to what they described as the “genocide of Palestinians”.
The protest resulted in police intervention and the arrest of seven individuals.
In a statement released on Thursday, Microsoft said that the dismissals were related to “serious breaches of company policies,” adding that recent demonstrations had “created significant safety concerns.”
No Azure for Apartheid, a movement formed by Microsoft employees, states on its website that it is committed to ending the company’s “direct and indirect complicity in Israeli apartheid and genocide.”
The controversy intensified earlier this month after The Guardian reported that the Israeli military has been using Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform to store intercepted phone calls of Palestinians. In response, Microsoft announced that a third-party investigation would be launched to determine whether its technology was being used for unlawful surveillance.
In a video posted to X, Brad Smith said the company is “committed to ensuring that our human rights principles and our contractual terms of service are upheld in the Middle East.”
This is not the first time Microsoft has come under scrutiny over its links to Israel. In April, during the company’s 50th anniversary celebrations, a pro-Palestinian employee interrupted a speech by AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman in protest. That employee, along with another who demonstrated in solidarity, was later dismissed.
Microsoft’s actions mirror similar developments at other tech companies. In 2024, Google terminated 28 employees following internal protests over its controversial cloud and AI contract with the Israeli government and military.
Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, including killing, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement, ignoring all international calls and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt the operation.
The genocide left 62,966 Palestinians dead, 159,266 injured, most of them children and women, more than 9,000 missing, hundreds of thousands displaced, and a famine that claimed the lives of 317 Palestinians, including 121 children.
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