Microsoft has reportedly fired two employees for organizing an “unauthorized” vigil at its Redmond, Washington, campus to honor Palestinians killed in Gaza.
According to the Seattle Times, the employees were dismissed over the phone late Thursday. They were allegedly part of a group called “No Azure for Apartheid,” which opposes Microsoft selling cloud computing technology to the Israeli government.
On Friday, Microsoft confirmed the terminations, stating that they were made “in compliance with internal policy,” but did not provide further details.
Abdo Mohamed, a researcher and data scientist who was fired, expressed disappointment, saying, “Microsoft really failed to provide a space for us to come together and share our grief and honor the memories of those who can no longer speak for themselves.”
Hossam Nasr, another terminated employee, explained that the vigil aimed to honor the victims of what he described as “the Palestinian genocide in Gaza” and to highlight Microsoft’s role in supporting this through its technology used by the Israeli military.
Nasr also criticized Microsoft’s dismissal process, noting that the watchdog group Stop Antisemitism announced his termination on social media before he received any formal notification from the company.
Earlier, Google also fired fifty workers who protested against the technology provided to the Israeli government amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
