Fired Microsoft Employees Accuse Company of Enabling Israel’s Attacks on Gaza
Two former Microsoft employees, Hossam Nasr and Abdo Mohamed, who were terminated in 2024 for organizing a vigil in support of Palestinians, have accused the company of complicity in Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank. The ex-employees, a software engineer and a data scientist respectively, claim that Microsoft’s technological services, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), translation, and data storage, are being used by the Israeli military to intensify its operations against Palestinians.
Nasr, who co-founded the ‘No Azure for Apartheid’ campaign, stated that Microsoft’s technology is being used to accelerate Israel’s military campaign. He explained that Microsoft’s cloud services, AI capabilities, translation, and data storage are essential tools for the Israeli military. The company provides translation services to convert data collected on Palestinians from Arabic to Hebrew, which is then fed into AI targeting systems. These systems help determine bombing targets in Gaza and classify innocent Palestinians as terrorists.
According to Nasr, Microsoft Azure hosts the target bank for the Israeli military and the civil registry of the Palestinian population. He cited reports showing a significant increase in Israel’s use of Microsoft’s AI tools between October 2023 and March 2024, with cloud storage usage rising to 13.6 petabytes. Nasr also alleged that Microsoft engineers have become deeply embedded in Israeli military units, including Unit 8200, Israel’s military intelligence branch.
The former employees are calling for a global boycott of Microsoft products and services. Mohamed noted that their campaign had garnered significant support, with over 7,000 people signing their petition and more than 270,000 letters being sent to Microsoft executives demanding that the company end its role in what they describe as ‘apartheid and genocide.’
The accusations come amid a backdrop of escalated violence in Gaza, where over 51,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, mostly women and children. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Israel is also facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice.
Despite being fired, Nasr and Mohamed vowed to continue their activism. Nasr stated that losing his job or being deported was a ‘cheap price to pay’ compared to what Palestinians are enduring. The former employees organized protests during Microsoft’s 50th anniversary events, including internal and external actions, to draw attention to the company’s alleged complicity in Israel’s actions.
