Microsoft has fired two employees who organized an unauthorized vigil at the company’s headquarters for Palestinians killed in Gaza during Israel’s yearlong war with Hamas.

Microsoft has fired two employees who organized an unauthorized vigil at the company’s headquarters for Palestinians killed in Gaza during Israel’s war with Hamas.

The two employees told The Associated Press they were fired by phone call late Thursday, several hours after a lunchtime event they organized at Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, Washington.

Both workers were members of a coalition of employees called “No Azure for Apartheid” that has opposed Microsoft’s sale of its cloud-computing technology to the Israeli government. But they contended that Thursday’s event was similar to other Microsoft-sanctioned employee giving campaigns for people in need.

“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.”

Microsoft said Friday it has “ended the employment of some individuals in accordance with internal policy” but declined to provide details.

Google earlier this year fired more than 50 workers in the aftermath of protests over technology the company is supplying the Israeli government amid the Gaza war. The firings stemmed from internal turmoil and sit-in protests at Google offices centered on “Project Nimbus,” a $1.2 billion contract signed in 2021 for Google and Amazon to provide the Israeli government with cloud computing and artificial intelligence services.

  • mightyfoolish@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    6 days ago

    I thought your first post was slightly aggressive but this post goes too far. We should be preaching the ethics of free software first; while always remembering everyday ethics so we don’t end up as hypocrites.

    From what I’m hearing, Microsoft wants to ban anti-cheat and plenty of other kernel-space software. They are possible security issues (along with all of Windows).

    • Semperverus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      34·
      6 days ago

      My post you are replying to is absolutely aggressive and was 100% intended to be at the time. I am calmer now though.

      The original post was not written with any aggression in mind. Could you expand on how it sounded that way? I didn’t feel any aggression until they started namecalling and making unfactual claims.

      • mightyfoolish@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        5 days ago

        just the kind of person who enjoys being a contrarian

        I thought the end was slightly passive aggressive. It wasn’t bad at all.

        The other user did namecall first but I think we of the Linux community have to remember we used free software out of ethics. Things seem more rosy and user-friendly comparatively now but you have to remember the people who have the same ethics will “stick it out” regardless of the end user experience.