Microsoft fires two employees for organising 'unauthorised vigil' for Palestinians killed in Gaza

Tech giant Microsoft has fired two employees after they organised an unauthorised vigil at the company's headquarters in Redmond, Washington, for Palestinians killed in Gaza during Israel's war with Hamas. The two employees, both from Egypt, were let go "in accordance with internal policy" of Microsoft after they organised a lunchtime event at Microsoft's campus on Thursday.?

CREDIT: AP

'No Azure for Apartheid'

Abdelrahman Mohamed, a researcher and data scientist, and Hossam Nasr, a Harvard graduate, were members of a coalition of employees called “No Azure for Apartheid." They were among the Microsoft employees who opposed the sale of the tech giant's cloud-computing technology to the Israeli government.?

“We have so many community members within Microsoft who have lost family, lost friends or loved ones. But Microsoft really failed to have the space for us where we can come together and share our grief and honour the memories of people who can no longer speak for themselves," Abdelrahman, who is in the US on an H1-B visa, said.?

CREDIT: No Azure for Apartheid

One of them was reported in the past too

The Egyptian national told the Associated Press that he now needs to find a new job within the next two months to transfer a work visa and avoid deportation.

Another fired worker, Hossam Nasr, the Egyptian-raised 2021 graduate of Harvard University, is also a co-organiser of Harvard Alumni for Palestine. He has been a vocal critic of Israel, and in the past too, a watchdog group called Stop Antisemitism had publicly urged Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to take action against him.

What fired employees said

According to the duo, Thursday's event was similar to other Microsoft-sanctioned employee gift campaigns for people in need and added that the purpose of the vigil was both “to honour the victims of the Palestinian genocide in Gaza and to call attention to Microsoft’s complicity in the genocide” because of the use of its technology by the Israeli military.?

CREDIT: No Azure for Apartheid

Microsoft is not alone

This is not the first time US tech companies have been caught up internally in the ongoing war in Gaza. Earlier this year, Google had fired more than 50 workers in the aftermath of protests over the technology the company is supplying to the Israeli government amid the Gaza War.

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