Microsoft fires employees for organizing vigil for Gaza victims
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The tech giant on Friday divulged it "ended the employment of some individuals in accordance with internal policy" without providing additional details.
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The Microsoft company logo is seen on this building in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, France, on April 12, 2016. (AP)
Microsoft has dismissed workers who held a vigil in solidarity with Palestinians killed by "Israel" in Gaza.
Late Thursday, the two employees reported being fired by Microsoft over the phone, only hours after organizing a lunchtime vigil on the company's Redmond, Washington site.
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.
Read more: Microsoft shutting down accounts of Palestinians Skyping Gaza: BBC
They had previously planned a tribute to Gaza martyrs at the company's headquarters in Seattle.
The tech giant on Friday divulged it "ended the employment of some individuals in accordance with internal policy" without providing additional details.
Abdo Mohamed, a researcher and data scientist fired by the company, expressed that many community members within the company have "lost family, lost friends or loved ones," adding that the company "really failed to have the space for us where we can come together and share our grief and honor the memories of people who can no longer speak for themselves."
Mohamed must find new employment within the next two months to avoid deportation due to his visa conditions.
Hossam Nasr, another fired employee, noted that the vigil intended to memorialize the victims of violence in Gaza while also drawing attention to Microsoft's role in the ongoing genocide in Gaza as a result of their technology being used by the Israeli military.
Nasr's firing was announced on social media by Stop Antisemitism more than an hour before he received official notification from Microsoft, he claims.
The same organization had earlier urged Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to take action against Nasr for his public statements against "Israel".
Nasr is a graduate of Harvard and co-organizes Harvard Alumni for Palestine.
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.
