Two Microsoft workers were sacked for planning an unapproved vigil at the company’s headquarters in memory of Palestinians who were slain in Gaza during Israel’s conflict with Hamas.
The two workers informed the media via phone late Thursday, a few hours after planning a luncheon event at Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington, campus, that they had been dismissed.
Both workers were part of the “No Azure for Apartheid” campaign, which has fought Microsoft’s decision to sell its cloud computing technology to the Israeli government. However, they said Thursday’s gathering was comparable to other staff gift programs for the underprivileged that Microsoft had approved.
According to researcher and data scientist Abdelrahman Mohamed, many members of the Microsoft group have lost friends, family, or loved ones. “But Microsoft really failed to have the space for us to come together and share our grief and honour the memories of people who can no longer speak for themselves.”
Although it declined to elaborate, Microsoft stated on Friday that it had “ended the employment of some individuals under internal policy.” Mohamed, an Egyptian, indicated that he needs to find new employment within the next two months to transfer his work visa and prevent deportation.
