Google has fired a cloud software engineer who disrupted a conference in New York city to protest against the company’s contract with the Israeli government.
An unidentified man in an orange Google shirt stood up during a keynote speech by Barak Regev, head of Google Israel, at the Mind the Tech conference on Monday, March 4.
“I’m a Google software engineer and I refuse to build technology that powers genocide or surveillance!” the engineer was seen and heard shouting in a video posted on X.
“Project Nimbus puts Palestinian community members in danger. No cloud apartheid. No cloud for apartheid, no tech for apartheid! Free Palestine!,” he shouted as security escorted him out.
Watch the video here
“The company has terminated an employee for interfering with an official company-sponsored event,” a Google spokesperson told CNBC.
“This behavior is not okay, regardless of the issue, and the employee was terminated for violating our policies,” he added.
In a statement, No Tech For Apartheid, an organization rallying against Project Nimbus, said on Friday, March 8, “Google’s aims are clear: The corporation is trying to silence workers to hide their moral failings.”
“Google has engaged in a clear cut act of retaliation against its own worker for speaking up about the terms and conditions of their labor,” the organization said.
“As a cloud software engineer on critical technology that enables Project Nimbus to run on sovereign Israeli data centers, this worker spoke from a place of deep personal concern about the direct, violent impacts of their labor.”
“While terminating this brave worker, Google HR asked how they were feeling. The worker replied: ‘proud to be fired for refusing to be complicit in genocide’,” it added.
Israel has launched a retaliatory offensive on Gaza, killing over 30,800 people and injuring 73,000 others since a Hamas surprise attack on October 7, 2023.
