Microsoft has fired two more employees who participated in recent protests against the company’s contracts with the Israeli military and government. The two employees, Nisreen Jaradat and Julius Shan, were fired “in connection” with demonstrations that saw protesters set up encampments at Microsoft’s headquarters, according to Hossam Nasr, an organizer with the No Azure for Apartheid group.
Two other Microsoft employees were fired last night for their involvement with a protest that saw members of the group gain access to a company building and live stream themselves inside the office of Microsoft president Brad Smith. Jaradat had previously sent a mass email around Microsoft saying she was “fed up” with the company’s treatment of her as a Palestinian worker, bypassing the company’s restrictions on language around Palestine and Gaza internally in order to do so.
The No Azure for Apartheid group has been taking public actions against Microsoft throughout the year. The group interrupted Microsoft executives during live streamed presentations on multiple occasions this spring. More recently, the group attempted to occupy a plaza on Microsoft’s headquarters. After being removed, they returned the next day with tents and tables and poured red paint across a Microsoft sign; 18 people were arrested.
Protesters returned again on Tuesday for the demonstration in Smith’s office. Afterward, Smith held a press conference saying that Microsoft is “working every day” to investigate potential misuse of Azure in Israel. But he said the protesters’ actions were “not ok.”
Microsoft declined to provide an attributable statement to The Verge.
