Microsoft fired two employees on Wednesday after they broke into the office of its vice chair and company president, Brad Smith, earlier this week as part of a protest of the technology company’s purported links to Israel.
The terminations came after a group of seven people broke into executive offices at Microsoft’s global headquarters in Redmond, Washington, on Tuesday to hold a sit-in. No Azure for Apartheid, an advocacy group organized by Microsoft employees, said in an Instagram post that current and former workers from Microsoft, Google and Oracle were part of the group that occupied Smith’s office.
The protesters, who were arrested by police on Tuesday, were demanding that Microsoft cut ties with Israel after The Guardian reported earlier this month that a unit of the Israeli military is using Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform to surveil Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
“Two employees were terminated today following serious breaches of company policies and our code of conduct,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement to CBS News. “The first violated the Business Conduct Policy, participated in the unlawful break-in at the executive offices, and other demonstrations on campus, and was arrested by authorities on our premises on two occasions. The second was involved in the break-in at the executive offices and was subsequently arrested.”
In an Instagram post, No Azure for Apartheid identified the employees as Anna Hattle and Riki Fameli.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Smith said Microsoft has launched a formal investigation into Israel’s reported use of Azure. “We are committed to ensuring that our human rights principles and our contractual terms of service are upheld in the Middle East,” he said.
Protests against Microsoft over the Israeli military’s use of the company’s technology have been going on for months. Police last week arrested 18 people after a similar protest at the company’s Redmond headquarters.
Israel launched its war against Hamas in Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas-orchestrated terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023. The war has killed more than 60,000 people in Gaza, according to the Palestinian enclave’s Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures.
The Hamas-led attack almost two years ago killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and saw 251 others taken as hostages into Gaza.
The Associated Press
contributed to this report.
Mary Cunningham is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch. Before joining the business and finance vertical, she worked at “60 Minutes,” CBSNews.com and CBS News 24/7 as part of the CBS News Associate Program.
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