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Microsoft Fires Employees for Protesting AI Support to Israeli Army

April 8, 2025

Microsoft employee Ebtihal Abu al-Saad disrupts Microsoft’s 50th anniversary celebration. (Photo: video grab)

On Friday, during the company’s 50th-anniversary event, Aboussad interrupted Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman’s presentation.

US tech giant Microsoft has reportedly fired two software engineers who protested the company’s AI technology supply to the Israeli military.

Ibtihal Aboussad, a software engineer in Microsoft’s AI division, was fired on Monday for “willful misconduct, disobedience, or neglect of duty,” according to a CNBC report on Monday cited by the Anadolu news agency.

Vaniya Agrawal, another engineer, had planned to resign on April 11, but the company made her resignation effective immediately on Monday, according to the report.

On Friday, during the company’s 50th-anniversary event, Aboussad interrupted Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman’s presentation, yelling “Mustafa, shame on you,” and adding “You have blood on your hands.”

“All of Microsoft has blood on its hands,” she continued.

‘Microsoft Powers Genocide’

She accused Microsoft of enabling the Israeli military with AI weapons, saying: “You claim that you care about using AI for good but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military.”

Aboussad added: “50,000 people have died, and Microsoft powers this genocide in our region.”

‘Shame on You!’ – Microsoft AI CEO Confronted over ‘Powering Genocide’ in Gaza

Her protest forced Suleyman to pause his talk while it was being livestreamed from Washington, the Associated Press (AP) reported, adding that the software engineer was escorted out of the event.

Suppression of Dissent Alleged

Later, Agrawal disrupted a separate panel featuring CEO Satya Nadella, former CEO Steve Ballmer, and founder Bill Gates, shouting: “Shame on all of you. … Cut ties with Israel.”

Following the protests, Aboussad emailed Suleyman and other Microsoft executives, alleging that the company had suppressed dissent among employees.

“I spoke up today because after learning that my org was powering the genocide of my people in Palestine, I saw no other moral choice,” Aboussad wrote in the email seen by CNBC.

The email reportedly included a link to a petition from “No Azure for Apartheid,” a group of Microsoft employees who have previously protested the company’s ties to Israel.

“I did not sign up to write code that violates human rights,” Aboussad stated.

Microsoft’s Response

Microsoft responded, the report said, by saying Aboussad’s email served as “an admission that you deliberately and willfully engaged in your earlier misconduct.”

The company said it “has concluded that your misconduct was designed to gain notoriety and cause maximum disruption to this highly anticipated event.”

“Immediate cessation of your employment is the only appropriate response,” the email added.

Complicit in Genocide

Agrawal similarly expressed her concerns in an email, criticizing Microsoft’s involvement in the military-industrial complex and labeling the company “complicit” in supporting surveillance, apartheid, and genocide.

She was told in an email on Monday that Microsoft “has decided to make your resignation immediately effective today,” according to the Associated Press.

A Microsoft spokesperson reportedly said on Friday that “We provide many avenues for all voices to be heard. Importantly, we ask that this be done in a way that does not cause business disruption. If that happens, we ask participants to relocate.”

The Israeli military employs AI to analyze intelligence, intercept communications and surveillance data for signs of suspicious behavior and track enemy movements.

(PC, Anadolu, Agencies)