On Thursday, October 24th, Microsoft unjustly terminated two Microsoft employees —Abdo Mohamed and Hossam Nasr— with the No Azure for Apartheid campaign for holding a lunchtime vigil and fundraiser at the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, WA to honor the tens of thousands of Palestinian victims of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, enabled by Microsoft’s Azure cloud technology. No Azure for Apartheid is a campaign led by Microsoft workers who are demanding an end to Microsoft’s complicity in Israel’s apartheid and genocide. Microsoft continues to provide the Israeli military with Azure cloud and AI services that are crucial in empowering and accelerating Israel’s genocidal efforts targeting Palestinians.

Despite the vigil being organized in accordance with the Employee Give Campaign, Microsoft repeatedly attempted to shut down the event. This followed a year-long harassment campaign led by Microsoft leadership targeting workers speaking in support of Palestinian human rights through worker intimidation and retaliation. Microsoft even threatened to call the police on the peaceful gathering of Microsoft employees during the lunch hour, before unjustly terminating the employment of two employees later that evening.

Abdo Mohamed and Hossam Nasr were notified of their termination by phone on Thursday night, mere hours after the vigil. In addition to rejecting this unjust retaliation, No Azure for Apartheid is concerned that an online anti-Palestinian doxxing group posted information regarding the termination of one of the former Microsoft employees almost two hours before he himself was even notified. Microsoft is failing to back up its claim and to protect its employees’ private and confidential information, which raises serious concerns regarding its HR practices.

Microsoft continues to provide the Israeli military with Azure cloud and AI services that are crucial in empowering and accelerating Israel’s genocidal efforts targeting Palestinians. Along with providing Israel crucial technological infrastructure to commit genocide in Gaza and silencing employees who speak out, Microsoft is also encouraging and matching employee donations to organizations that fundraise for the Israeli military and illegal West Bank settlements. Alarmingly, Microsoft is continuing its practices perpetuating Israel’s human rights violations despite the UN and nearly every major human rights organization urgently calling for an immediate ceasefire calling the situation in Gaza beyond catastrophic. This includes the International Court of Justice ruling Israel is plausibly committing the crime of genocide in January of last year and international campaigns specifically calling on Microsoft to end its contracts with Israel for its crimes against Palestinian rights.

Microsoft prides itself in its human rights commitments, and its history of divesting from apartheid South Africa in April 1986. It now has an opportunity to protect human rights and end its relationship with Israel following in the footsteps of its own precedent.

No Azure for Apartheid reiterates its core demands for Microsoft:

1. IOF off Azure: End Microsoft’s complicity in Israeli genocide and apartheid by terminating all Azure contracts and partnerships with the Israeli military and government.

2. Disclose all ties: Make all ties to the Israeli state, military, and tech industry publicly known, including weapons manufacturers and contractors, and conduct a transparent and independent audit of these ties to ensure compliance with Microsoft’s own Global Human Rights Statement and our commitments to international human rights instruments in Palestine and all over the world.

3. Call for a ceasefire: Honor the demands of the over 1,000 employees who signed the petition calling on Microsoft’s leadership to publicly endorse an immediate, permanent ceasefire.

4. Protect employees and uphold free speech: Ensure the safety of Palestinian, Arab, Muslim and allied employees by protecting pro-Palestinian speech, actions, and fundraising initiatives on company platforms.

In addition, No Azure for Apartheid demands that Microsoft rehires and formally apologizes to the two fired employees; an investigation into Microsoft’s Human Resources department for failing to protect employee information and privacy to be conducted, and to share the results of the investigation with all employees; and an immediate explanation for the leak and apparent collusion with a group known for doxing and harassment.