Microsoft Office Invasion Sparks Police Investigation After Protest

Microsoft protested the Israeli military’s alleged use of their software in the invasion of Gaza by asking police to remove those who had entered a building at its headquarters without authorization.

Current and former Microsoft workers connected to the ‘No Azure for Apartheid’ movement began demonstrating inside a building on the Redmond, Washington, Microsoft campus on Tuesday, August 26. They also broke into the office of Brad Smith, the company’s president. According to a group statement, the demonstrators brought a court summons notice to his office.

Brad Smith stated:

“When they’re asked to leave and they refuse, that’s not OK. That’s why for those seven folks, the Redmond police literally had to take them out of the building.”

According to Smith, two of the seven individuals that entered his office were staff members.

Smith stated that although employees who voice their opinions are not subject to retaliation from the corporation, it is different if they threaten to do so. According to Smith, Microsoft will consider disciplining the staff members who took part in the demonstration.

The demonstrators called for an end to Israel’s claimed genocide and asked that the corporation sever its connections with the country.

Megacap IT firms are increasingly collaborating with defense organizations, especially as the need for cutting-edge AI technologies grows. Since Israel has intensified its military offensive in Gaza, the controversy surrounding several of those activities has intensified.

Google dismissed 28 workers in 2024 after several of them broke into the company’s buildings. A few workers gained access to the office of Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google’s cloud unit, which had a contract with Israel’s government.

‘This year, “No Azure for Apartheid” has organized a number of events, such as a celebration of Microsoft’s 50th anniversary and the Build development conference. According to a Bloomberg story earlier Tuesday, a Microsoft official contacted the FBI while the demonstrations went on.

Twenty people were arrested in a single day last week as a result of protests organized by No Azure For Apartheid around the company’s site. According to Smith, 16 of the 20 have never held a position at Microsoft.

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Microsoft authorized a third-party probe into whether Israel has exploited its technology for spying after The Guardian revealed earlier this month that Israel’s military had stored Palestinian phone calls on the company’s Azure cloud infrastructure.

Smith claims that cybersecurity for Israel accounts for the majority of Microsoft’s collaboration with the Israeli Defense Force. He went on to say that the company is “very” concerned about the tens of thousands of civilians who have died in Gaza as a result of the conflict, the hostages who were taken, and the Israelis who lost their lives in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack.

Microsoft plans to deliver technology in an ethical manner, as per Smith.