Google fires about 20 more employees who took part in protests against Israeli cloud contract, bringing total fired for protests to more than 50



Google has reportedly fired about 20 more employees for taking part in protests against its cloud computing contract with the Israeli government, bringing the total number of Google employees fired over the issue in the past week to more than 50.

Google fires more workers who protested its deal with Israel - The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/04/22/google-nimbus-israel-protest-fired-workers/



Google's cloud service, Google Cloud, was selected as a provider of public cloud services for the Israeli government in 2021. This cloud computing contract with the Israeli government has been promoted under the name 'Project Nimbas.' However, protests against Project Nimbas were held both inside and outside Google due to armed conflict between Israel and the Gaza Strip in May 2021, just before the announcement.

On April 16, 2024, a total of nine employees were arrested at Google offices in Sunnyvale, California and New York. The employees were holding a sit-in protest against Google's cooperation with the Israeli government and were taken into custody by police who responded to a call.

Google employee arrested for protesting cooperation with Israel - GIGAZINE



According to The Washington Post, in addition to the nine people arrested that day, several employees, including about 20 people allegedly involved in the protest, were fired, bringing the total number of employees fired in connection with the April 16 protest to more than 50. Google spokesperson Bailey Thomson commented, 'All of the fired employees were personally and critically involved in the disruptive activities at Google offices. We carefully verified the identities of the protesters, as they were wearing masks or had their ID badges hidden from view.'



Hasan Ibrahim, one of the fired employees, said at a press conference, 'Employees who voluntarily stopped the sit-in when asked to do so were fired. Employees who simply stopped by on the day of the protest were fired. ' He also criticized the company for not cracking down on the double standard of other Google employees who are harassing pro-Palestinian employees by posting their names and photos on social media.'

'Companies are trying to silence dissent, silence their employees and once again demonstrate their power over them,' said Jane Chung, a spokesperson for No Tech for Apartheid, a group that has been protesting Israeli government contracts with Google and Amazon since 2021.

A few days before the protests, CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a memo to all employees, 'Google has a vibrant culture of open discussion that enables us to create great products and turn great ideas into action. But ultimately, we are a company, and our policies and expectations are clear: this is a business.' He called for Google's openness to only apply to work-related matters and to avoid political topics.

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