Microsoft Employees Fired Over Protest

On Thursday, Microsoft announced that it had terminated two employees after they broke into the office of President Brad Smith to protest the company’s relationship with Israel amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

A group of seven current and former employees managed to enter Smith’s office in Redmond, Washington, demanding the company cut ties with Israel, citing reports that Microsoft’s technology was being used by the military during the Gaza offensive.

According to an Instagram post from the organizing group, known as apartheid azure, Riki Fameli and Anna Hattle were the fired employees.

A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed the firings, stating, “Two employees were fired today following a serious violation of the company’s policy and our Code of Conduct,” adding that there had been an unauthorized entry into the executive office.

The spokesperson emphasized that such actions contradict the company’s expectations for its employees.

Microsoft is continuing to investigate the incident further.

Fameli, a graduate of Brown University who had worked as a software engineer at Microsoft for two years, and Hattle, who had been with the company for five years, were both involved in the protest.

Smith alleged that the protesters impeded entry to the office, set up cell phones as listening devices, and refused to leave without police intervention.

On their website, apartheid azure claims to be a collective of Microsoft workers demanding an end to the company’s complicity in what they term Israel’s apartheid and violence against Palestinians.

The backlash against Microsoft intensified after a report from The Guardian indicated that Israeli forces had utilized the Azure cloud platform for monitoring Palestinian communications.

Microsoft has stated it will conduct a third-party investigation to determine if its technology is being misused for surveillance.

Smith has promised a thorough examination to uncover the truth about how Microsoft’s services are utilized.

Last week, there were no protests at Microsoft’s campus, leading to 20 arrests.

The group also staged protests during Microsoft’s Build Developers Conference and celebrated the company’s 50th anniversary amidst their demonstrations.

A recent Bloomberg report mentioned that a Microsoft director had requested FBI monitoring of the protests.

Interestingly, Google faced a similar situation last year, where 28 employees were terminated after protests against the company’s partnerships with the Israeli government, with some arrests occurring at the office of Thomas Kurian, the CEO of Google Cloud.