Microsoft has dismissed an employee who publicly protested the company’s ties to the Israeli military during CEO Satya Nadella’s keynote speech at the annual Build developer conference in Seattle.

Joe Lopez, a software engineer with the Azure division, interrupted Nadella’s address on Monday, shouting, “How about you show them how Israeli war crimes are powered by Azure?” before being escorted from the venue.

Lopez later sent a mass email to colleagues, criticising Microsoft’s contract with Israel’s Ministry of Defense and alleging complicity in civilian harm in Gaza. He was subsequently terminated for violating company policy.

The protest was coordinated by the internal activist group No Azure for Apartheid (NOAA), which is demanding Microsoft end its AI and cloud services relationship with the Israeli government.

NOAA claims Microsoft is actively censoring employee dissent, blocking internal emails containing words like “Palestine,” “Gaza,” and “genocide.” Employees report that even HR complaints and regular internal communications using those terms are being delayed or undelivered.

Microsoft has denied blanket censorship, saying only emails sent to mass distribution groups were limited. However, employees say even targeted, work-related emails containing those terms failed to send or were delayed for hours.

The Build conference, attended by thousands of developers, has seen multiple disruptions this week. Sessions led by Microsoft AI executives were interrupted by employees and protesters accusing the company of “whitewashing” the impact of its technology in Gaza. Security was visibly increased after demonstrations outside the venue and attempts to breach it.

This incident follows last month’s firing of two employees who disrupted Microsoft’s 50th anniversary event with similar accusations. Critics argue the company’s insistence on having “no visibility” into how its products are used is a form of moral evasion.

With staff unrest growing, Microsoft faces intensifying scrutiny over its role in what activists call the “first AI-powered genocide” and its treatment of employees raising ethical concerns.