Employees fired by Google refuse to be silenced about Gaza
4 Min Read
According to the 3 former employees, they protested because as IT professionals they saw how Google, Meta, and other companies allowed Zionist propaganda to spread while silencing Palestinian views.
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Dozens of Google workers conduct a sit-in at Google's NYC 10TH floor commons. (X photo, @NoTechApartheid)
Mohammad Khatami, Zelda Montes, and Kate Sim are among the 50 Google employees who were terminated from their positions for protesting the war on Gaza early this month.
Last week, Google fired approximately 20 additional employees for taking part in protests against the company's cloud computing contract with the Israeli occupation government, The Washington Post reported, citing the activist group representing the workers.
The three former employees wrote in The Nation that the demonstrations were part of the continuing No Tech for Apartheid (NOTA) movement, which has been asking for years that Google and Amazon withdraw Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion agreement inked by Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services with the Israeli military and occupying government in 2021.
The deal gives cloud computing and artificial intelligence technologies to the occupation, contributing to "state aggression" and, more recently, "Israel's" slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza.
The authors recall how Google accused all involved, even those not active in the sit-ins, of being “directly involved in disruptive activity."
"We are disappointed, outraged, and disheartened by Google’s refusal to engage with us," they expressed.
According to the three former employees, they protested because as IT professionals they saw how Google, Meta, and other companies allowed Zionist propaganda to spread while silencing Palestinian views, a trend they say preceded the war on Gaza.
The three requested to be switched to new projects or took leave in a futile attempt to separate themselves from Project Nimbus and other military contracts. We also attempted to involve our leaders through petitions, office hour meetings, business town halls, internal message boards, and employee forums.
Authorities ignored their concerns and banned their internal communications network, having a significant impact on Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab colleagues who face an internal culture of hatred, abuse, and vengeance.
They cited that they had no choice but to have their demands heard except to disrupt the business.
Their demands include that Google slash its Project Nimbus agreement and end business with the occupation, as well as "stop the harassment, intimidation, bullying, silencing, and censorship of Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim Googlers."
Third, Google must address the health and safety problems among its employees since several employees have reported terrible mental health repercussions from working for a firm that facilitates genocide with their labor.
Finally, Google must end the retribution against and doxxing of workers who speak up and promote a safe working environment for all employees.
The authors write that since 2021, employees with NOTA have expressed worry about our AI's possible monitoring and military exploitation of AI, while Google's leadership has rejected the inclusion of Project Nimbus in the military activities of the occupation.
Just a few weeks ago, Time reported that Google had a direct contract with the Israeli Ministry of Security as part of "an Israel/Nimbus deal" detailing a "depending" partnership during the war on Gaza.
"Clearly, our executives have blatantly lied to us, as they continue to profit from the murder of over 30,000 Palestinians and the destruction of life in Gaza."
Khatami, Montes, and Sim reiterate their pride in participating in this sit-in as employees who believe in the potential of "worker-led disruption of labor" in order to achieve Palestinian freedom, expressing their rejection of complicity in the face of Gooogle's profit-driven disregard for human life.
