Following a disruptive sit-in protest against Google’s contract with the Israeli government, the tech giant dismissed 28 employees, as confirmed by a Google spokesperson on Thursday.
The demonstration on Tuesday was orchestrated by the group known as “No Tech for Apartheid,” which has been vocal in its opposition to “Project Nimbus,” a joint $1.2 billion venture between Google and Amazon to deliver cloud services to the Israeli government.
A video of the protest depicted police apprehending Google employees at the Sunnyvale, California office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, according to a post by the advocacy group on X (formerly Twitter).
The advocacy group claimed that Kurian’s office was occupied for a duration of 10 hours.
During the protest, employees displayed signs with messages such as “Googlers against Genocide,” referencing allegations related to Israel’s actions in Gaza.
“No Tech for Apartheid,” which also staged demonstrations in New York and Seattle, highlighted a Time magazine article from April 12 revealing a draft Google contract billing the Israeli Ministry of Defense over $1 million for consulting services.
A Google spokesperson mentioned that a “small number” of employees caused disruptions at multiple Google sites, emphasizing that the protests were driven by external groups rather than Google employees.
Referring to the incident, the Google spokesperson stated, “After repeated requests to vacate the premises were disregarded, law enforcement intervened to ensure office safety. Following individual investigations, 28 employees were terminated, and further investigations will be conducted with appropriate actions taken as necessary.”
While Google does provide cloud computing services to several governments, Israel is one of the countries mentioned. The spokesperson clarified that Google’s services do not pertain to highly sensitive, classified, or military operations concerning weaponry or intelligence services.
AFP