Google Sacks 28 Staff Protesting Against Israeli Government Cloud Contract

Earlier this month, reports revealed Google's involvement in the ongoing conflict between Palestinian forces and the Israeli military in Gaza.

According to documents obtained by TIME, the tech giant has already signed a deal allowing the Israeli Ministry of Defense access to some of its offerings, including cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI).

These developments have spurred a string of protests at several unspecified office locations within Google, where some employees reportedly initiated demonstrations to disrupt work.

On Thursday, Google confirmed that 28 employees involved in the Israeli cloud contract protests had already been terminated following investigations.

"Physically impeding other employees' work and preventing them from accessing our facilities is a clear violation of our policies and completely unacceptable behavior," Google said in a statement.

Why Are Google Employees Protesting Against the Israel Cloud Contract?

According to the New York Times, several activist employees within Google have been voicing dissent against Google's partnerships with the Israeli government for some time now.

These protests have been ongoing since Google inked a $1.2 billion deal dubbed 'Project Nimbus,' alongside Amazon, to provide Israel with cloud software in 2021. The protests flared up last year when the war in Gaza started.

According to recent reports, a number of employees have staged sit-in protests at the company's offices in Seattle, New York, and Sunnyvale, California over Project Nimbus.

"No Tech for Apartheid," the group behind the series of demonstrations, has slammed Google for the recent firings, calling them "a flagrant act of retaliation."

The group has also objected to Google's claim of 'unacceptable behavior,' defending that the movement that the involved employees engaged in "peaceful sit-ins and refusing to leave did not damage property or threaten other workers."

According to NBC News, employees at Google were also protesting against labor conditions and the company's alleged disregard for the well-being of Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim colleagues facing racism, discrimination, harassment, and censorship.

They claim that the situation has created major health and safety concerns, leading to many resignations due to the mental health consequences of supporting what they perceive as enabling genocide.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 30: A sign is posted in front of a Google office on January 30, 2024 in Mountain View, California. Google parent company Alphabet will report fourth quarter earnings today after the closing bell.

Google Defends 'Project Nimbus'

According to an internal memo obtained by the press, Google has defended its involvement in the cloud services deal with the Israeli government. The company said that its work "is not directed at highly sensitive, classified, or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services."

"Google Cloud supports numerous governments around the world in countries where we operate, including the Israeli government, with our generally available cloud computing services," a Google spokesperson told CNBC.

This is not the first time that a tech giant has been slammed for involvement in tech deals with military forces. In Sept 2022, the US Army finally sent a go-signal for Microsoft Corp to deliver its first batch of Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) goggles.

Microsoft employees made it known to their bosses that the deal had "crossed the line" and that HoloLens augmented reality technology, under the clauses of the contract, "is designed to help people kill."