600+ Google staff sign letter to drop sponsoring Israeli tech field

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Wired
5 Mar 2024 15:30
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A Google Cloud software engineer interrupts a conference to say that his work should not be used for surveillance and genocide against the Palestinians.

People walk past the recently opened Google building in New York, on Monday, Feb. 26, 2024. (AP)

Over 600 staff members at Google have signed a letter demanding Google marketing to drop its sponsorship of the annual conference promoting the Israeli tech industry called Mind the Tech in New York this week, as reported and seen by WIRED.

“Please withdraw from Mind the Tech, issue an apology, and stand with Googlers and customers who are despairing over the overwhelming loss of life in Gaza; we need Google to do better,” read the letter on the event, which aims to highlight the Israeli tech industry.

At the conference on Monday, a Google Cloud software engineer interrupted remarks by Barak Regev, Google "Israel" CEO, by saying that his work should not be used for surveillance and genocide against the Palestinians.

Talking to Hell Gate anonymously, the engineer said, “I don't see any way forward to continue my engineering work without doing this,” adding, "I consider this a part of my engineering work, and I hope other engineers within Cloud see me do this, and I hope that it galvanizes them."

As per the conference website, Google was a “gold” sponsor of the event, even though the financial details were not provided.

Zelda Montes, a YouTube software engineer who attended Monday's protest outside the conference, expressed to WIRED that worker solidarity is essential in the face of “Israeli AI technologies used in the surveillance and genocide of the Palestinian people.”

“While our ‘leadership’ continues to fail us, I hope that we as Google workers feel more empowered to turn to one another and ask ourselves what more we can do to collectively stand against tech for oppression,” she said.

'Not on my watch'

The internal letter was first shared inside Google on February 29 and co-written by several organizers for the campaign group No Tech for Apartheid, which calls for an end to 2021's Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud computing contract of "Israel’s" government with Google and Amazon announced.

The campaign group claims that the Nimbus contract terms would permit cloud technologies such as AI from the US companies to serve military purposes. According to documents gathered by The Intercept, it can also serve as surveillance for "Israel".

The letter highlights the recent ruling from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which found that some of its actions “appear to be capable of falling within the provisions of the [Genocide] Convention.”

#Google is investing in the Israeli occupation... again! pic.twitter.com/4FylMKxWLH
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) October 26, 2022

It also brings up the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as a result of the Israeli genocide campaign and blocking humanitarian aid.

Mohammad Khatami, a software engineer for Google who signed the letter, told WIRED that the highest priority for tech workers should be how their work affects not only users but also people on the ground. “Palestinians, many of whom are literally Google users, are being put in danger by the tech we produce,” he said.

When Project Nimbus was first launched, protesters organized a rally, stating that the contract would enable “Israel” to expand its illegal settlements by supporting data collection for the so-called “Israel Land Authority."