Dozens of Microsoft employees staged an occupation at the company’s east campus in Redmond, Washington, protesting against what they claim is the use of its technology by the Israeli military in Gaza and the surveillance of Palestinians.
The action, led by the group No Azure for Apartheid, comes less than a week after Microsoft announced an independent investigation into how its Azure cloud services are being deployed. Protesters established a space they called the “Free Zone” and held signs reading “Join the Worker Intifada, No Labour for Genocide” and “Martyred Palestinian Children’s Plaza”.
Microsoft called to sever its ties with Israel
The campaign has called on Microsoft to sever its ties with Israel. Earlier this year, employee Joe Lopez disrupted chief executive Satya Nadella’s keynote address at the company’s annual developer conference, accusing the firm of complicity in Palestinian deaths.
One demonstrator, former employee Hossam Nasr, said the group escalated its actions after the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif in Gaza earlier this month. “He was intentionally targeted,” Nasr said. “It happened the same week news broke that Microsoft is storing surveillance data from Palestinians’ calls.”
Reports earlier this month by the Guardian, +972 Magazine and Local Call revealed Israel’s Unit 8200 military intelligence division was using Azure to store vast volumes of intercepted phone calls from Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
The Redmond protest unfolded as international organisations, including the United Nations, warned of severe famine and disease in Gaza. The territory’s health ministry says more than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began military operations following Hamas’s 7 October attacks.
