Fired Microsoft employees say company 'crumbled under pressure'
4 Min Read
Microsoft has alleged that the firing of Abdo Mohamed and Hossam Nasr is due to their use of equipment that disrupted business operations.
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The Microsoft logo is displayed outside its French headquarters in Issy-les-Moulineaux, outside Paris on May 13, 2024. (AP)
After two Microsoft employees were fired last week for organizing a memorial for Palestinians killed in Gaza, the two are asserting that the company "crumbled under pressure, internally and externally."
Abdo Mohamed, a researcher and data scientist, and Hossam Nasr, a software developer, coordinated the event outside Microsoft's offices in Redmond, Washington, on October 24 before being dismissed later in the evening.
Both were members of the "No Azure for Apartheid" organization of anti-"Israel" employees who opposed Microsoft's selling of cloud computing technology to the Israeli occupation.
According to Nasr, the company's actions are not due to policy violations but rather because both men "dared to humanize Palestinians" and hold the company accountable for its collaboration with the Israeli occupation.
Microsoft denied claims that the two men were fired due to the vigil, with a spokesperson claiming that the company is committed to maintaining that all voices be heard "in a way that does not disrupt business operations and be aligned to our company policies and behavior expectations," saying they are not allowed to use bullhorns or speakers.
Mohamed and Nasr denied that their vigil was disruptive, stating that it followed standard procedures for employee charity events and included a microphone for speakers and placards for attendees.
They also emphasized that they had communicated with Microsoft before the event, and Nasr stated that the police only observed the event and reported that Microsoft did not at any point discuss disciplinary consequences.
Microsoft accused of double standards on racism
Both Mohamed and Nasr expressed concern over the timing of Nasr's dismissal, which was publicized by Stop Antisemitism before he was informed. Nasr provided a call log showing he was contacted by Microsoft at 9 pm on October 24, while the group's announcement came an hour and a half earlier. He also pointed out a double standard at Microsoft, noting he faced investigations for comments on Gaza, while his reports of racism received no action.
He cited messages implying that he and another coworker are "members of Hamas or just supporters."
Such comments never resulted in investigations, but HR launched one after he posted: "With or without your sympathy, Palestinians will attain the dignity, freedom, respect, and liberation that they deserve, everywhere from Jordan."
Microsoft did not respond when another employee vowed that "Israel" would be free "from the river to the sea."
An anonymous Palestinian employee at Microsoft told The Guardian that the company's internal message board has been flooded with posts expressing outrage about the firings and accusing Microsoft of double standards when it comes to harassment and conduct laws against Palestinians.
“Microsoft is refusing to hear its worker demands,” Mohamed expressed. “This is what’s happening within Microsoft. People are calling them out, and they’re even refusing to engage and look at serious concerns that come with the use of these technologies.”
Microsoft is not the only company to squash pro-Palestine sentiment. In April of this year, Google fired approximately 20 additional employees for taking part in protests against the company's cloud computing contract with the Israeli occupation government.
This brought the total number of employees dismissed over the protests to over 50.
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.
