WASHINGTON (Palestine Foundation Information Center) A wave of unrest is rising within the American company Microsoft due to its close collaboration with the Israeli occupation army, particularly in the fields of artificial intelligence and cloud computing, which are used in military operations against civilians in the Gaza Strip.
According to the British newspaper The Guardian, a protest occurred during an event on April 4, celebrating the company’s fiftieth anniversary, where employees expressed their dissent against top leadership regarding Microsoft’s role in supporting the Israeli blockade.
A few days ealier, employees Ibtehal Abu Saad and Vania Agrawal interrupted a speech by AI Executive Mustafa Suleiman, only to be fired days later.
These protests are not the first; they were preceded by an action on March 20 in a Seattle hall, targeting company president Brad Smith and former CEO Steve Ballmer, conducted by a former employee and another still working at the company.
The Guardian revealed that a banner was hung outside the hall reading, “Microsoft Enables Genocide,” referring to the technical cooperation with the Israeli army since October 7, 2023.
Documents obtained by the British newspaper indicate that the Israeli occupation’s reliance on cloud computing and AI tools for its military operations has been increasing, coinciding with its escalating use of weapons.
In October last year, a protest was held during lunchtime to mourn the victims of the Israeli aggression in Gaza, featuring engineer Hossam Nasr and data scientist Abdu Mohammed, both of whom were later dismissed.
According to human rights and media reports, Microsoft has provided direct technical support to the Israeli occupation army worth at least $10 million since the beginning of the ongoing war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, through its cloud platform (Azure).
Reports indicate that Microsoft’s support included data management services, development of targeting systems, advances in surveillance technologies, and provision of advanced artificial intelligence tools.
Among these tools is “Lavender,” an AI system designed to identify bombing targets, which has been accused of being linked to the deaths of thousands of civilians in the Gaza Strip. Furthermore, reports accuse Microsoft of supplying biometric surveillance technologies to track Palestinians.
This comes at a time when the number of martyrs has exceeded 50,800 civilians, including more than 18,000 children, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
