Fired from Microsoft for praying for Palestinians in Gaza

(CLO) Microsoft has fired two employees who organized a prayer session at the company's headquarters for Palestinians killed in the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.

Two employees said they received notice of their layoffs by phone on the night of October 24, after they held a memorial event at Microsoft's campus in Redmond, Washington, during lunchtime that same day.

Both men were members of an employee group called "No Azure for Apartheid" that protested Microsoft's sale of cloud computing technology to the Israeli government .

Illustration photo: AP

A fired worker named Hossam Nasr said the purpose of the vigil was "to remember the victims of the Palestinian genocide in Gaza and to call attention to Microsoft's complicity in the genocide" because the Israeli military used the company's technology.

“We have a lot of people on our team at Microsoft who have lost family, friends, or loved ones,” said Abdo Mohamed, a researcher and data scientist who was also recently laid off from Microsoft.

“But Microsoft doesn’t give us the space to gather and grieve, and honor the memory of those who can no longer speak for themselves,” Mohamed said.

Mohamed, an Egyptian, said he now needs to find a new job within the next two months to switch his work visa and avoid deportation.

Microsoft said on October 25 that it had "terminated certain individuals in accordance with internal policies" but declined to provide details.

Earlier this year, Google also fired more than 50 employees following protests over technology the company provided to the Israeli government during the war in Gaza.

The firings stemmed from sit-ins at Google offices in protest of “Project Nimbus,” a $1.2 billion contract signed in 2021 under which Google and Amazon will provide the Israeli government with cloud computing and artificial intelligence services.

Hoai Phuong (according to AP)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/bi-microsoft-sa-thai-vi-cau-nguyen-cho-nguoi-palestine-thiet-mang-o-gaza-post318680.html