WASHINGTON (Palestine Foundation Information Center) Microsoft has dismissed two software engineers, including Ibtehal Abu Al-Saad and her colleague Vania Agrawal, after they participated in a protest against the company’s provision of artificial intelligence systems used by Israel to target Palestinians in Gaza.
According to U.S. media reports, the dismissal followed a public protest organized by the employees last Friday during a celebratory event marking Microsoft’s 50th anniversary, which was attended by the company’s founder, Bill Gates.
Moroccan software engineer Ibtehal Abu Al-Saad took the stage while AI department head Mustafa Suleiman was speaking, directly accusing him and the company of contributing to genocide in Gaza by selling AI technologies to the Israeli army. She stated, “You claim to use AI for good, while Microsoft sells AI weapon technologies to the Israeli army… Fifty thousand people have been killed, and Microsoft is contributing to this genocide in our region.”
Her protest caused a pause in the event, which was being broadcast live from the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, with notable figures like Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer present. Abu Al-Saad continued her speech, accusing Suleiman and “all of Microsoft” of having blood on their hands. She then threw a Palestinian keffiyeh on the stage before being escorted out by security.
American network CNBC confirmed that Microsoft had fired the two engineers, citing “deliberate misconduct” and “neglect of duty” based on internal reviews. Abu Al-Saad was officially informed of her dismissal during a video call with human resources, while Vania Agrawal received her termination via email, according to the group “No Tech for Apartheid,” which campaigns against technical cooperation between major companies and Israel.
This incident follows similar actions in major tech companies, notably Google, which dismissed dozens of employees earlier for organizing protests against the $1.2 billion “Nimbus” project, which provides cloud services and AI technology to the Israeli government.
Meanwhile, on March 18, 2025, Israel resumed its offensive and tightened blockade on Gaza after a two-month ceasefire, which began on January 19. However, Israel violated the ceasefire terms throughout the previous two months. With U.S. and European support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, resulting in over 166,000 Palestinian casualties, mostly women and children, and more than 14,000 missing persons.
