Google Sacks 28 Staff Protesting Over Contract with Israel

Joy ChukwuApril 18, 20241 Mins read622

Google has sacked 28 employees for participating in demonstrations against a partnership between the tech giant and Israel’s government. This collaboration, known as Project Nimbus, involves a $1.2 billion contract with Amazon, providing cloud computing and AI infrastructure to Israel’s governmental and military entities.

Members of the protest group ‘No Tech For Apartheid’ staged sit-ins at Google’s New York and Sunnyvale, California offices. Video of the demonstration showed police arresting Google workers in the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, which was occupied for 10 hours.

Workers held signs including “Googlers against Genocide,” a reference to accusations surrounding Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

Google clarified that Project Nimbus does not involve workloads related to sensitive, classified, or military operations, stating that Israel is one of “numerous” governments for which Google provides cloud computing service.

According to a Google spokesperson, protesters disrupted office operations, physically obstructed employees’ work, and hindered facility access.

After refusing multiple requests to leave the premises, law enforcement was engaged to remove them to ensure office safety, the Google spokesperson 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.

These dismissals exacerbate existing tensions between the company and employees opposed to providing technology to Israel’s government.