After this stunt, these employees heard two words often said by their number one nemesis, Donald Trump, "you're fired." You knew this would happen: the Google workers who staged an anti-Israel protest at their respective offices were soon given termination notices. In New York and California, some workers tried to resurrect the old Occupy Wall Street antics and protested the massive contract the company had with Israel. They demanded they sever ties with the Jewish state over their war in the Gaza Strip against Hamas (via The Mercury News):
Google has fired 28 employees for participating in Tuesday’s protests at company facilities, a spokesperson confirmed to the Mercury News.
Roughly 80 employees protested outside Google complexes in Sunnyvale, demanding the company drop Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract that provides computing services to the Israeli Ministry of Defense. Five were arrested by Sunnyvale police for criminal trespassing after a sit-in at one of the company’s building. Similar sit-ins and protests were held at Google office in New York.
Protesters violated Google’s policies by physically impeding other employees’ work and preventing them from accessing facilities, according to a statement from Google. The company states it conducted individual investigations of the fired employees and will continue to investigate and take action as needed. Google has not revealed how many of the 28 employees worked in the Bay Area.
Tuesday’s action against Project Nimbus stem from news outlets reporting that Israel has its own Google Cloud “landing zone”, providing the government with a way to store and process data and access AI services. Protesters have expressed concerns about the company potentially using AI against civilians in Gaza.
Recommended
You can watch one of the protests being busted up by police here:
BREAKING: Google employees were arrested after occupying their boss's office for more than 8 hours to demand that the company sever ties with Israel.
— Kassy Akiva (@KassyDillon) April 17, 2024
WATCH: pic.twitter.com/W4WQO8NNgH
NEWS
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) April 18, 2024
Google has fired 28 employees who staged in sit-in which was protesting the company’s $1.2 billion cloud contract with Israeli government.
Nine employees were also arrested.
In a note sent to employees the company says: “If you're one of the few who are tempted to… pic.twitter.com/NgCv8c47EW
UPDATE: Google fired 28 of the protesting employees, according to a company wide memo by Google VP of global security Chris Rackow.
— Kassy Akiva (@KassyDillon) April 18, 2024
“If you’re one of the few who are tempted to think we’re going to overlook conduct that violates our policies, think again.” https://t.co/6FhPmK214J pic.twitter.com/zjP25LzWnn
They’re now free to either find new jobs or devote themselves to the Hamas cause full-time. Maybe some can go to Gaza to stand with their Hamas brethren in their time of need. The irony remains that Hamas would butcher every pro-Palestinian activist who's blocked a road, shut down a bridge, or hurled an epithet at a Jewish person since the start of this war.
***
Google to its anti-Israel clowns:
Join the conversation as a VIP Member