Employees Protest Against Microsoft Over Support for Gaza Genocide

Workers and activists are demanding that Microsoft end its contracts with Israel, accusing the company of providing technology that fuels the ongoing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

On Tuesday, a group of about 30 employees and activists gathered at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, calling on the company to sever its ties with the Israeli government. The demonstrators set up tents in the main campus square and declared the area a “liberated space.”

Speaking through a megaphone, former employee and organizer Hossam Nasr said, “For 22 months of genocide, Israel—with Microsoft’s technological support—has been killing and injuring Palestinian children every hour.”

An hour later, Redmond police warned protesters that they were on private property and could face arrest. The activists dismantled their tents and banners, regrouping on a nearby sidewalk.

For more than a year, a collective of employees called “No Azure for Apartheid” has urged Microsoft to cancel its contracts with the Israeli state and military institutions, arguing that the Azure cloud platform has been used to enable surveillance and attacks on Palestinians. Several organizers have since been fired on grounds of “unauthorized protests,” though current and former employees continue to denounce what they call the company’s complicity. “Microsoft is the largest digital weapons manufacturer serving the genocide in Gaza,” said employee Nisreen Jaradat.

Corporate denials under scrutiny

Microsoft has publicly denied any responsibility. In a May statement, the company asserted it had found no evidence that Azure or its artificial intelligence systems were being used to harm people in Gaza.

However, earlier this month Microsoft hired the law firm Covington & Burling to conduct an “external review” after investigations by outlets including The Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call reported that Azure servers had been linked to the interception of millions of Palestinian phone calls by Israeli authorities.

The Redmond protest is part of a broader nationwide mobilization. Since October 2023, students at more than 100 universities—including Columbia—have set up encampments demanding that their institutions divest from Israel and weapons manufacturers supplying its military campaign.