Google fires 28 employees for protesting against military contract with Israel
Google has fired 28 employees following protests against the company's cloud-computing contract with Israel.
The terminations came on Wednesday after nine employees were arrested on Tuesday while participating in sit-in protests at Google offices in Sunnyvale, California, and New York City.
The workers were held for a few hours before being released, the employees said.
"Their behavior was unacceptable, extremely disruptive, and made co-workers feel threatened," Chris Rackow, Google's vice president for global security, stated in a company-wide email.
The employees, part of a group called No Tech for Apartheid, have been writing letters and staging protests against Google’s deal to sell technology to Israel since 2021.
Since Israel’s war on Gaza, the clash over the cloud-computing contract, known as Nimbus, among employees at Google and Amazon has increased. The project is set to bolster the regime’s surveillance of Palestinians.
Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion joint contract with Amazon will provide the Zionist regime with AI and cloud services.
In its statement, No Tech for Apartheid cited a recent Time Magazine report that found Google had built custom tools for Israel's war ministry and had contracts with the Israeli Occupation Forces.
“After refusing multiple requests to leave the premises, law enforcement was engaged to remove them to ensure office safety,” the email said. “We have so far concluded individual investigations that resulted in the termination of employment for 28 employees, and will continue to investigate and take action as needed.”
The 28 employees who were fired from their jobs were informed through email leaving them shocked and angry over the company’s decision.
“I’m furious,” said one of the fired employees who helped organize the sit-in but didn’t directly participate. “This is a wildly disproportionate response to workers standing up for morality and for holding Google accountable for its own promises. Firing people associated with an event they don’t like — it’s unbelievable,” the Washington Post quoted an employee.
"Google workers have the right to peacefully protest about terms and conditions of our labor. These firings were clearly retaliatory," No Tech for Apartheid said in a statement.
Since Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza, workers across the world have stepped up their solidarity with Palestine and organized resistance to the supply of arms and military technology to Israel.
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