Two Microsoft employees, Anna Hattle and Riki Fameli, have been dismissed from the tech giant after participating in a peaceful sit-in protest at the office of company president Brad Smith. The protest, staged in opposition to Microsoft’s business ties with Israel amid the ongoing war in Gaza, led to their arrest — and now, their termination.
According to a Microsoft spokesperson, the firings were due to what the company called “serious breaches of company policies and our code of conduct” related to what it described as a “break-in at the executive offices.” But for the two workers, this was never about rules or rebellion — it was about conscience.
“We are here because Microsoft continues to provide Israel with the tools it needs to commit genocide while gaslighting and misdirecting its own workers about this reality,” said Hattle in a statement released by protest group No Azure for Apartheid.
The group, whose name refers to Microsoft’s Azure cloud services, has been vocal in urging the company to end its technological cooperation with Israel and make reparations to Palestinians affected by the conflict. The fired employees were reportedly informed of their dismissal via voicemail.
The protest took place just days after a Guardian joint investigation with +972 Magazine and Local Call revealed that Microsoft’s Azure software was being used by an Israeli military intelligence unit to store and analyze massive quantities of intercepted mobile phone conversations from Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. The report also alleged widespread surveillance relying on Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure.
In response to growing backlash, Microsoft confirmed it had hired an independent law firm, Covington & Burling LLP, to conduct a review of the matter. But for many inside and outside the company, that’s not enough.
This isn’t an isolated act of employee dissent. In April, a pro-Palestinian Microsoft staffer interrupted a keynote by Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman, calling attention to the same issue. That employee, too, was later fired.
Microsoft joins a growing list of corporations and universities caught in the global reckoning over institutional ties to the Israel-Gaza conflict. As the humanitarian crisis deepens — with the Gaza Strip reeling from tens of thousands of civilian deaths, forced displacements, and a worsening hunger emergency — calls for corporate accountability are growing louder.
This chapter in the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict traces its roots back to October 2023, when a deadly Hamas attack on Israel claimed the lives of 1,200 people and led to around 250 hostages being taken. Israel’s military response has devastated Gaza, prompting accusations of genocide and war crimes in international courts — allegations Israel strongly denies.
For the workers at Microsoft who stood up, the cost was their jobs. But for many watching around the world, their message cuts deeper: when silence equals complicity, protest becomes a form of truth.
