Microsoft Corp. terminated two of its employees for breaking into President Brad Smith’s office and protesting against the Israeli military’s alleged use of the company’s software in the Gaza war. Addressing the incident, Smith had said, “We respect the freedom of expression that everyone in this country enjoys as long as they do it lawfully.” According to CNBC, Smith claimed that the protestors refused to end their sit-in protest until they were removed by police. He said that they blocked people out of his office and planted listening devices in the form of phones.
Who are Anna Hattle and Riki Fameli?
The company said the firings followed a “serious breach of company policies and our code of conduct”. The two workers, identified as Anna Hattle and Riki Fameli, were among seven protesters arrested on Tuesday during the occupation of Smith’s office at Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington headquarters. The other five were former employees or external activists.
Riki got his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Brown’s University in 2023. As per his LinkedIn, Riki started working with Microsoft as Software Engineer for Azure Storage on hardware SKU from August 2023. He also did his internship with Microsoft in 2022. According to the information available on the internet, Anna Hattle was employed as Software Engineer at Microsoft.
‘No Azure for Apartheid’
A group called ‘No Azure for Apartheid’ organised the protest. The group includes employees and activists who are urging Microsoft to sever contracts with Israel and pay reparations to Palestinians.
“We are here because Microsoft continues to provide Israel with the tools it needs to commit genocide while gaslighting and misdirecting its own workers about this reality,” terminated employee Anna Hattle said in a statement.
A joint investigation by The Guardian, 972 Magazine and Local Call revealed that Israel’s military surveillance agency has been using Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform to store vast amounts of phone call recordings from Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
In response to the findings, Microsoft announced that it is conducting an independent review of the findings of the joint investigation.
Past protests against Microsoft
This is not the first time Microsoft has faced internal dissent over its work with Israel. In April, two employees were dismissed after interrupting remarks by Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman at the company’s 50th anniversary celebration to protest similar issues.
The global protests come amid widespread condemnation of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Since Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, their military response has killed tens of thousands in Gaza, displaced the population and triggered accusations of genocide and war crimes, which Israel denies. According to Israeli figures, the Hamas attack had killed 1,200 of its citizens and saw 250 taken hostage.