Microsoft can frolic with Israel, but staff are saying buh-bye

A Microsoft employee has quit over the company’s involvement in Israel’s war crimes and published a video calling on other Microsoft workers to join the movement.

Jenni is part of No Azure for Apartheid, a growing tech movement that is demanding that Microsoft live up to its own purported ethical values – by ending its direct and indirect complicity in Israeli apartheid and genocide.

Their website states:

We will not be cogs in the Israeli genocidal machine: a call for a Worker Intifada

The group has four demands:

1. IOF off Azure – End Microsoft’s complicity in Israeli genocide and apartheid by terminating all Azure contracts and partnerships with the Israeli military and government.
2. Disclose all ties – Make all ties to the Israeli state, military, and tech industry publicly known, including weapons manufacturers and contractors. Conduct a transparent and independent audit of Microsoft’s technology contracts, services, and investments.
3. Call for a ceasefire – Honor the demands of over 1,000 employees who signed a petition calling on Microsoft’s leadership to publicly endorse an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
4. Protect employees – Ensure the safety of Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and allied employees by protecting pro-Palestinian speech, actions, and fundraising initiatives on internal company platforms.

Jenni has been an AI transcription writer at Microsoft for the past three and a half years. She was working on a product for doctors and nurses to take notes.

In an exclusive statement, Jenni told the Canary:

Dual-use technology means that the same Al systems we use to summarize meetings and write emails can be used to surveil the phone calls of Palestinian citizens or flag a children’s school as a military target. This is why as tech workers we have a critical responsibility to reclaim our labor when we see it being repackaged and re-sold as an accessory to crimes against humanity.

I resigned today to make this message clear to Microsoft – that Microsoft workers refuse to be complicit in the company’s war crimes, and that we are not afraid to withhold our labor in order to refuse being exploited to power this Al-assisted genocide.

In the video shared online, Jenni said:

If you work for one of these companies your work could be sold to a hospital one day and then to ICE or detention services the following day or maybe even a foreign government who’s carrying out a genocide. This has already happened.

A year ago, former Microsoft employees Ibtihal Aboussad and Vaniya Agrawal protested Microsoft’s fiftieth anniversary celebration. Ibtihal worked on an AI transcription service for accessibility, which, of course, was very useful and did not involve war crimes. Microsoft fired both of them.

However, it then sold that product to the Israeli military, which used it to spy on and murder innocent Palestinians.

Participating in war crimes

Microsoft has been working with Israel for decades. It insists on continuing their relationship despite international bodies recognising that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza. Israel has committed a very long list of war crimes, which Microsoft is choosing to ignore.

As the Canary previously reported, leaked documents show that after October 7, Microsoft significantly increased its operations with Israel’s military.

The files showed that Microsoft was supplying the IOF with greater computing and storage services, and:

striking at least $10m in deals to provide thousands of hours of technical support.

Now, the Israeli military continues to bomb, blockade, and starve Gaza whilst claiming to be adhering to the “ceasefire”. Similarly, in Lebanon, Israel is destroying historic buildings and communities, while murdering thousands of civilians.

The Guardian found that the leaked documents:

illustrate how the US tech behemoth supported a range of sensitive activities.

This includes managing the movement of Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Additionally, Microsoft engineers have been providing support to Israel through their analysis of “visual intelligence”. This is likely to be the innumerable drones used by the Israeli military. Essentially, Microsoft’s support is providing the technological infrastructure for genocide.

Forcing their hand

Last summer, Microsoft staff protesters set up the Liberated Zone on the Martyred Palestinian Children’s Plaza and the Mai Ubeid Building. This was to draw attention to the company’s involvement in Israel’s genocide.

It was only then, coupled with journalists proving how much Israel was relying on Microsoft’s technology to commit war crimes, that Microsoft took action.

However, it only cut a few services to Israel’s Unit 8200 — just one of the IOF’s elite military intelligence units. Obviously, this is nowhere near enough.

Since then, Israel’s war crimes have only intensified, alongside its reliance on big tech, AI, and companies such as Microsoft.

Only last month, the US military double-tapped a girls’ primary school in Minab, Iran. Reports suggest that AI identified the school as a target. Big Tech is aiding and abetting war crimes all over the world.

Jenni ended the video by saying:

This and more is why I am leaving Microsoft. I am very lucky that I am able to do so. I’m very lucky that I get to speak out in this way. If you work at Microsoft, please join No Azure for Apartheid. Sign their pledge

We’ve got thousands of people who are now saying that we don’t want our work to be used for war crimes.
You can stay anonymous. You can stay risk-free. Everyone is welcome. For everyone else – Do what you can. Keep all eyes on Gaza. Free Palestine

Feature image via No Azure for Apartheid