Microsoft fires staff over Gaza vigil for Palestinians

Microsoft has terminated the employment of two individuals who organised an unauthorised vigil at the company's headquarters in Redmond, Washington, to honour Palestinians killed in Gaza during the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas.

The employees, Abdelrahman Mohamed and Hossam Nasr, were part of a group called "No Azure for Apartheid" that opposed Microsoft's sale of cloud-computing technology to the Israeli government.

The employees argued that the event was similar to other Microsoft-sanctioned employee gift campaigns for people in need.

Mohamed, a researcher and data scientist from Egypt, expressed disappointment in Microsoft's failure to provide a space for employees to come together and grieve for those who lost their lives. He now faces the challenge of finding a new job within two months to avoid deportation due to his work visa status.

Nasr, an Egyptian-raised 2021 graduate of Harvard University and co-organiser of Harvard Alumni for Palestine, said that the vigil's purpose was twofold: to honour the victims of what he called the "Palestinian genocide in Gaza" and to draw attention to Microsoft's alleged complicity in the conflict through the use of its technology by the Israeli military.

Nasr's firing was made public on social media by the watchdog group Stop Antisemitism before he received the official call from Microsoft.

This incident follows a similar situation at Google, where more than 50 workers were fired in the aftermath of protests over the company's involvement in "Project Nimbus," a $1.2 billion contract signed in 2021 for Google and Amazon to provide cloud computing and artificial intelligence services to the Israeli government.

Microsoft has declined to provide specific details about the firings, citing privacy and confidentiality considerations, but maintains its commitment to maintaining a professional and respectful work environment.