Microsoft Fires Staff After AI Protest Over Israeli Military Contract at 50th Anniversary Celebration

Microsoft has sacked two employees who publicly protested the company’s AI work with the Israeli military during its high-profile 50th anniversary event, according to advocacy group No Azure for Apartheid.

The disruption took place at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, during a livestreamed celebration attended by tech heavyweights including co-founder Bill Gates and former CEO Steve Ballmer.

Microsoft software engineer Ibtihal Aboussad interrupted a keynote speech by AI chief Mustafa Suleyman, accusing the company of fuelling conflict in Gaza and Lebanon through AI-powered military tools.

“You claim that you care about using AI for good, but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military,” she shouted during Suleyman’s presentation. “Fifty-thousand people have died and Microsoft powers this genocide in our region.”

The confrontation led Suleyman to pause his speech briefly. He responded by saying, “Thank you for your protest, I hear you,” before security escorted Aboussad out. Before leaving, she threw a keffiyeh scarf on stage – a symbol of solidarity with Palestinians.

A second employee, Vaniya Agrawal, protested later during the same event.

Both employees have since been terminated. Aboussad says she was fired during a video call with HR on Monday, while Agrawal was notified via email, according to the advocacy group. Microsoft has not confirmed the firings but said on Friday that it “provides many avenues for all voices to be heard,” so long as it does not cause “business disruption.”

The firings come in the wake of an Associated Press investigation earlier this year, which revealed Microsoft and OpenAI’s models were used by the Israeli military in selecting airstrike targets during recent conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon.

That report also documented civilian casualties from misidentified targets, including the deaths of three children and their grandmother in a 2023 airstrike in southern Lebanon.

The controversy around tech companies’ ties to military applications is not new. Google last year terminated dozens of staff members after similar internal protests over Project Nimbus, a US$1.2 billion cloud contract with the Israeli government.

While Microsoft remains tight-lipped on whether more disciplinary action is on the way, Aboussad says she lost access to her work systems almost immediately after the protest.