Google employees across various offices staged protests on Tuesday, denouncing the company's $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli government.
The demonstrations, organized by a group named 'No Tech for Apartheid,' aimed to pressure Google to sever its ties with Israel over allegations of human rights violations in Gaza.
BREAKING—DOZENS OF @GOOGLE WORKERS LEAD HISTORIC COAST TO COAST-INS AT @GOOGLECLOUD CEO THOMAS KURIAN’S OFFICE IN SUNNYVALE & @GOOGLE’s NYC 10TH FLOOR COMMONS. They refuse to leave until @google stops powering the genocide in Gaza
— No Tech For Apartheid (@NoTechApartheid) April 16, 2024
LIVESTREAM: https://t.co/uUiPbr3oDz pic.twitter.com/vCkInh0769
Protesters Demand End to Google's $1.2B Israel Contract
In Sunnyvale, California, protesters entered the office of Thomas Kurian, Google Cloud CEO, demanding an end to the contract.
Simultaneously, in New York City, another group occupied the 10th floor of Google's office building, echoing the same sentiments against the controversial agreement.
🚨 @NoTechApartheid activists have taken over Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian’s office at the Google headquarters in Sunnyvale, CA to call on the company to drop Project Nimbus, a cloud computing project of the IDF.
— Talia Jane ❤️🔥 (@taliaotg) April 16, 2024
Simultaneously in NYC, Googlers have taken over the lobby: pic.twitter.com/m7YnBM0NyB
Outdoor protests also took place alongside the sit-ins at Google offices in New York, Sunnyvale, San Francisco, and Seattle, as per Wired.
In New York, 23-year-old Google cloud software engineer Eddie Hatfield was among the protesters. He was fired after disrupting Google Israel's managing director at the March Mind The Tech conference, which focused on the Israeli tech industry.
The protesters' main grievance revolves around 'Project Nimbus,' a $1.2 billion cloud computing project involving Google and Amazon, providing services to the Israeli government and its defense forces.
The protesters assert that the partnership indirectly backs Israeli military actions, including Gaza airstrikes, which they condemn as genocidal towards Palestinians.
According to the Ministry of Health in the region, more than 33,000 Palestinians have lost their lives in ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
Employees Push for Ethical Tech Collaborations Amid Human Rights Concerns in Gaza
The current protest isn't just about the contract; it's a broader call for ethical considerations in tech collaborations.
Employees are demanding an end to what they perceive as complicity in human rights violations and military actions they find morally objectionable.
Google has yet to issue an official response to the protests or the demands put forth by its employees but has previously clarified that its work for the Israeli government under the Nimbus contract focuses on civilian purposes
A Google spokesperson told Time Magazine that the contract only involves providing services for various government ministries such as finance, healthcare, transportation, and education, emphasizing that their work does not include highly sensitive or classified military tasks related to weapons or intelligence services.
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