Microsoft fires four employees after on-site protests over company's ties to Israel

Microsoft has dismissed four employees for protesting against its ties to Israel, including two who staged a sit-in at the office of company president Brad Smith this week.

The protest group No Azure for Apartheid said on Wednesday that Anna Hattle and Riki Fameli received voicemails informing them they had been fired. It added a day later that Nisreen Jaradat and Julius Shan were also dismissed after joining demonstrations and encampments at Microsoft headquarters.

Microsoft said the terminations followed “serious breaches of company policies,” adding that recent on-site demonstrations had “created significant safety concerns.”

Hattle accused the company of complicity in Israel’s war in Gaza.

“We are here because Microsoft continues to provide Israel with the tools it needs to commit genocide while gaslighting and misdirecting its own workers about this reality,” she said in a statement.

Hattle and Fameli were among seven protesters arrested on Tuesday after occupying Smith’s office. The other five were ex-employees or people unaffiliated with the firm.

Smith has insisted that Microsoft supports freedom of expression “as long as they do it lawfully.”

A recent investigation by the Guardian, +972 Magazine and Local Call, revealed that Israel’s military surveillance agency was using Microsoft’s Azure software to store vast amounts of Palestinians’ phone call recordings from the West Bank and Gaza. In response, Microsoft said it had asked law firm Covington & Burling LLP to conduct a review.

The latest firings come after other Microsoft staff protested earlier this year. In April, two employees were dismissed after interrupting AI chief Mustafa Suleyman’s remarks at the company’s 50th anniversary celebrations.

Microsoft joins a growing list of firms and universities facing internal dissent and protests over ties to Israel as global outrage mounts over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Israel’s offensive has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, displaced Gaza's entire population and left many facing hunger, according to humanitarian groups. Israel launched the campaign after Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and seized around 250 hostages in its 7 October 2023 assault.

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