Current, ex-Microsoft staff arrested in sit-in against Israeli ties
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At least five Microsoft workers were arrested at HQs during a sit-in protest against the company’s cloud contracts with the Israeli government.
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The Microsoft Sign at the Redmond headquarters sprayed in red during a protest against "Israel" using the company's cloud services, Redmond, Washington, DC, United States, August 21, 2025 (Social media)
At least two current and three former Microsoft employees, along with two other tech workers, were arrested at the company’s headquarters after they staged a sit-in demonstration in the company president’s office to urge Microsoft to cut its ties with the Israeli government.
According to Abdo Mohamed, a former Microsoft worker who helped organize the demonstration, police placed the protesters in full-body harnesses and carried them out of the building, stressing that no arrests or violence would deter them from continuing to speak up.
The demonstration on Tuesday, which was part of a series of actions organized by current and former staff over Microsoft’s cloud contracts with the Israeli government, followed the arrest of twenty activists at the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, last week.
In addition to the protesters who staged a sit-in at Microsoft president Brad Smith’s office, other employees, former staff, and supporters had gathered outside the headquarters.
Microsoft provides 'Israel' with digital arms
The latest protests were sparked by an investigation by +972 Magazine and Local Call revealing that Israel's Unit 8200 uses Microsoft's Azure to store vast numbers of recorded Palestinian phone calls. Microsoft claimed it had not been aware of "the surveillance of civilians or collection of their cellphone conversations using Microsoft’s services."
The Israeli military is using Amazon Web Services (AWS), #Microsoft Azure, and #Google Cloud for "military purposes" in Gaza, with #AWS providing “endless storage” for surveillance and targeting in the ongoing genocide.
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) August 7, 2024
Since October, their expanded use of these tech giants'… pic.twitter.com/XXJ9Ig95K3
Although the company said it was launching an independent investigation into the use of its Azure software, activists wanted to escalate their actions due to what they viewed as inadequate action from the company.
“You continue to try to bury your head in the sand, so we are here today outside your blood-soaked thrones, to continue pulling your baby-killer necks out of your sand holes and continue to force you to confront your complicity, until you stop powering the murdering our people,” Ibitihal Aboussad, one of the demonstrators on Tuesday, stated.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has been taking extraordinary measures to quell the demonstrations that have been ongoing for months. According to a report from Bloomberg, the company has not only requested help from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to track protests but also worked with local authorities to stop them.
