Why Microsoft workers have taken over company’s main campus in Washington

Microsoft has a problem. Its workers in Washington, DC, are in an uproar – and have taken over part of the company’s main campus.

The issue at hand? The company’s defence contracts with Israel. An employee group within the firm has been pressuring the company to cut its ties with Israel. The development came less than a week after Microsoft said it was launching an independent probe into the use of its Azure software.

This isn’t the first time the employees have raised a hue and cry.

But what happened? What do we know?

Let’s take a closer look:

What happened?

Dozens of employees, as well as former members of the firm, congregated on Microsoft’s campus in Washington on Tuesday afternoon. The employees, who were also joined by locals, are part of the No Azure for Apartheid group – which itself is part of the No Tech for Apartheid movement.

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The group took over part of the campus which spans around 500 acres in Redmond and recently underwent redevelopment.  They set up tents and declared the area a “liberated zone”. The group said they had changed the name of the area from the East Campus Plaza to “The Martyred Palestinian Children’s Plaza.”

They also set up artwork that honoured those who died in Gaza. This included shrouds and a large plate that stated “Stop Starving Gaza.” They also set up a table with a sign asking Microsoft management to “come to the table” and cut ties with the Israeli military.

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The group also published an open letter and manifesto entitled “We will not be cogs in the Israeli genocidal machine: a call for a Worker Intifada”. The group has called on Microsoft employees to voice their objections, walk off their jobs, and go on strike until Microsoft ceases to do business with the Israeli government and military.

The No Azure for Apartheid group has also slammed Microsoft’s decision for banning terms such as “Gaza,” “genocide,” and “apartheid” in their internal communications. The group said around 50 people had attended the beginning of the event. Microsoft employs nearly 50,000 people at its Redmond campus.

Why are the employees doing this?

Hossam Nasr, an ex-Microsoft employee who is leading the protest, said the group had taken this decision because Microsoft refused to respond to their concerns surrounding the use of Azure.

Azure is Microsoft’s cloud-computing division. It sells software to businesses and governments as well allows them to store data on its servers. The Israeli government and its agencies are among the clients of Azure.

An investigation this month revealed that an Israeli military surveillance unit  is using Microsoft’s Azure software to record phone calls of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel is said to have used this information to choose the locations on which to drop bombs.

Nasr told The Guardian, “We are here because over 22 months of genocide, Israel — powered by Microsoft — has been killing, maiming Palestinian children every hour”.  Nasr also cited the death of Al-Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif at the hands of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) as a reason for this fresh protest. Anas was among five journalists killed in a strike by Israel earlier this month.

“I watched him report on Gaza relentlessly, through starvation, through extermination campaigns, through bombing. He was the voice of the business. He was intentionally targeted,” Nasr, 26, said.   Critics of Israel have long accused them of conducting a genocide in Gaza and targeting journalists covering the war. Israel disputes such allegations, however the increasing number of journalists killed in Gaza suggests otherwise.

Nasr was earlier fired for leading a protest against Microsoft. The firm has sacked a few members of the No Azure for Apartheid group for holding unauthorised events and disrupting these speeches of its top executives. The latest protests have been clearly inspired by uprisings against Israel on US college campuses. Many students had called for US colleges to cut ties with Israel and adopt the BDS movement, or Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, movement.

“Microsoft is the most complicit digital arms manufacturer in Israel’s genocide of Gaza,” Microsoft employee Nisreen Jaradat said in a statement on Tuesday.

Jaradat told The Guardian, “ Every single second that we wait, things are worse and worse in Palestine. People are getting hungrier and hungrier. More and more people are being bombed and maimed. It’s time for us to escalate, however we can.”

Julius Shan, another Microsoft employee, added, “I think we are inspiring conversation among the people who work at Microsoft to feel more comfortable talking about this with each other and about how their work is contributing to genocide”.

Some experts have accused Israel of conducting a genocide in Gaza. The United Nations has warned that Gaza faces widespread starvation and disease. The Gaza Health Ministry has said that at least 62,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war – which Israel launched as a response to the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas.

The group had said it would remain in the plaza until it was forcibly removed. An hour into the protest, a police officer showed up to warn them they were press passing on private property and that there would be arrested. The demonstrators then left the plaza and set up on a sidewalk –which organisers said was public property.

A Microsoft spokesperson said the group “was asked to leave, and they left”.

The company in May claimed it had “found no evidence to date that Microsoft’s Azure and AI technologies have been used to target or harm people in the conflict in Gaza”. However Microsoft has since enlisted the Covington & Burlin law firm to conduct an independent review.

Previous protests by Microsoft employees

This isn’t the first time Microsoft employees have taken the company to task over its ties to Israel.

In April, Vaniya Agrawal, an Indian-origin engineer, slammed Microsoft’s top leadership at a companywide party in Washington. Microsoft at the time was holding an event to celebrate its 50th anniversary with leaders such as Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and Satya Nadella in attendance.

“Shame on you all. You’re all hypocrites,” Agrawal said at the time. “Fifty thousand Palestinians in Gaza have been murdered with Microsoft technology. How dare you. Shame on all of you for celebrating on their blood. Cut ties with Israel,” she said. Agrawal was escorted from the event and booed by some fellow Microsoft employees. She later took to LinkedIn to announce her exit from the firm.

That same event also saw Ibtihal Aboussad, another Microsoft employee, disrupting the speech of AI chief Mustafa Suleyman.  “Mustafa, shame on you,” Aboussad yelled – which caused Suleyman to halt his address.

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

“Thank you for your protest, I hear you,” Suleyman responded. But Aboussad wasn’t finished. She proclaimed that “all of Microsoft” has blood on their hands and threw a keffiyeh on stage. The scarf has become a symbol of support for Palestinian people. Aboussad too was removed from the event.

In February, five Microsoft employees were thrown out of an internal meeting with Nadella for protesting against the contracts with Israel. More than 60 Microsoft shareholders holding $80 million in the firm have demanded a review to see Microsoft’s contracts with Israeli firms are contravening human rights in Gaza. The proposal will likely be taken up at the company’s annual general meeting in December.