Microsoft fires employees for organising pro-Palestine protests: All the details

Microsoft

Employees at big tech companies — including Google and Amazon — have held several protests for working with Israel, in the light of war with Hamas. However, Microsoft has take a drastic step of firing employees who held a pro-Palestine vigil. According to a report by The Associated Press, two employees were sacked after they held a protest event at Microsoft’s headquarters in Richmond.

The report mentions that the two employees — Abdo Mohamed and Hossam Nasr — were part of a group of employees called “No Azure for Apartheid”. The group had been protesting Microsoft working with Israeli government on cloud computing. The two employees said that their event was in accordance with Microsoft’s rules for employee events.

“We have so many community members within Microsoft who have lost family, lost friends or loved ones,” said Abdo Mohamed, a researcher and data scientist. “But Microsoft 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,” he told The Associated Press.

Nasr said that the vigil was organised to honour the victims of the “Palestinian genocide in Gaza and to call attention to Microsoft’s complicity in the genocide” as it was providing technology to the Israeli government.

According to the report, Microsoft didn’t confirm the reason but said that it had “ended the employment of some individuals in accordance with internal policy”.

The company further said that it remains “dedicated to maintaining a professional and respectful work environment. Due to privacy and confidentiality considerations, we cannot provide specific details.”