Frustration over Big Tech’s business ties to "Israel" amid its genocide in Gaza has simmered for months, The Washington Post reported, and this week the tensions erupted inside Amazon.

Ahmed Shahrour, a Palestinian software engineer, said he reached a breaking point and posted a letter across dozens of internal Amazon messaging channels, urging the company to end its contracts with "Israel".

“I want to pressure Amazon to cut ties with Israel completely,” he told The Washington Post. Within hours, Shahrour said, Amazon suspended him with pay and deactivated his accounts. Amazon reportedly declined to confirm his account directly. 

Widening conflict at Silicon Valley's giants 

The clash at Amazon is the latest public incident in a wider conflict affecting Silicon Valley’s giants, including Microsoft and Google, where small groups of employees have organized against corporate dealings with the Israeli occupation.

Many of these workers stress that such contracts make them complicit in the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza. The companies, however, have not only maintained those contracts but also acted to contain dissent, dismissing workers, calling in police to break up protests, and, in some cases, arresting employees.

While Amazon’s global workforce exceeds 1.5 million, Google employs 183,000 and Microsoft 228,000. Dissenters are a minority, but their voices have created a visible fault line, as per the report.

Amazon is being boycotted globally for profiting off #BlackFriday sales while aiding "Israel's" military operations against #Palestinians through advanced surveillance technology.

From #Gaza to #SouthAfrica, the company faces mounting criticism for its complicity in human rights… pic.twitter.com/LpMZXJrnbq

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) November 30, 2024

The Anti-Defamation League defended Amazon’s suspension of Shahrour. “This clear action helps protect all employees, customers, and shareholders, and sends a strong message to all that such behavior is unacceptable,” it claimed in a statement.

Earlier this year, The Post reported that Google engineers raced to provide AI tools to the Israeli forces in the weeks after October 7, 2023. In June, "Israel" disclosed it had spent $45 million on Google advertising. A company spokesperson claimed that the figure was not a formal agreement with the state but acknowledged that "Israel" advertises on YouTube.

Meanwhile, the activist group No Tech for Apartheid, which includes current and former employees of Amazon and Google, accused the companies of complicity in “genocide” and renewed calls to end all contracts with "Israel". Last year, Google dismissed more than 50 workers who took part in a protest organized by the group.

Solidarity with Palestinians gained new momentum

At Microsoft, dissent has grown louder. At a recent staff meeting, company president Brad Smith directly addressed concerns raised after police arrested protesters, some of them employees, at the company’s Redmond, Washington, headquarters. Several of those involved were later fired.

Smith acknowledged troubling cases reported by The Guardian that Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform had been used by the Israeli occupation forces to store secretly recorded Palestinian phone calls. “We do not allow our services to be used for … the mass surveillance of civilian populations,” he said. “We will get to the bottom of this.” Microsoft has hired an outside law firm to investigate.

Smith also promised stronger human rights reporting processes, but he defended the firings of those who staged sit-ins. “It is common sense,” he said, “that people who occupied offices be fired. I know that people who work here get it and support that.”

Employee activism against tech companies’ contracts with the US military and "Israel" predates the current war. The 2021 disclosure of Google and Amazon’s Nimbus contract with the Israeli occupation government galvanized opposition, leading to the creation of No Tech for Apartheid.

Google workers and Bay Area activists are holding a die-in at Google SF to demand the company stop providing Cloud and AI tools toward Israel’s genocide in Gaza. #NoTechForApartheid #NoTechForGenocide pic.twitter.com/aWdkce4B2h

— AROC #FreePalestine (@AROCBayArea) December 15, 2023

Since "Israel" launched its genocide in Gaza, it has killed around 64,900 Palestinians, mainly women and children.

'Anything about Palestine'

In April 2024, nine Google employees were arrested during a sit-in at a New York office, part of a wave of protests that triggered dismissals. Several of the fired workers are now suing Google, claiming unlawful retaliation.

Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini defended the company’s response. “By any standard, their behavior was completely unacceptable,” she said. “We stand by our decision to terminate the employment of these individuals.”

At Microsoft’s Redmond campus in August, police arrested 20 protesters, Smith said. Days later, seven demonstrators barricaded themselves inside his office and live-streamed their occupation. NPR reported that police eventually moved in and arrested the group, which included two Microsoft employees.

Amazon has faced relatively quieter internal pushback. Over the summer, workers said an Arab employee resource group’s Slack channel temporarily disappeared after a colleague in "Israel" deliberately hid it. Shahrour cited that incident as a factor in his decision to go public.

Handing out fliers outside Amazon’s Seattle headquarters after his suspension, he said he received a mix of support and pushback from colleagues. One large employee-led event in solidarity with Palestinians was canceled at the last minute. Another Amazon worker, who shared a CNN article about volunteer doctors in Gaza, said he later received a formal written warning from management.

Shahrour remains suspended but says restrictions on Arab employees discussing Gaza inside Amazon only deepened his resolve. “If you put anything about Palestine, it will get reported and you will be under investigation,” he said.

He was also among those arrested at Microsoft’s campus protest in August. Now, he hopes his actions will inspire colleagues to form “a local resistance within Amazon.”