Space News from SpaceDaily.com
Google fires 28 workers protesting contract with Israel
New York, April 18 (AFP) Apr 18, 2024
Google fired 28 employees following a disruptive sit-down protest over the tech giant's contract with the Israeli government, a Google spokesperson said Thursday.

The Tuesday demonstration was organized by the group "No Tech for Apartheid," which has long opposed "Project Nimbus," Google's joint $1.2 billion contract with Amazon to provide cloud services to the government of Israel.

Video of the demonstration showed police arresting Google workers in Sunnyvale, California, in the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian's, according to a post by the advocacy group on X, formerly Twitter.

Kurian's office was occupied for 10 hours, the advocacy group said.

Workers held signs including "Googlers against Genocide," a reference to accusations surrounding Israel's attacks on Gaza.

"No Tech for Apartheid," which also held protests in New York and Seattle, pointed to an April 12 Time magazine article reporting a draft contract of Google billing the Israeli Ministry of Defense more than $1 million for consulting services.

A "small number" of employees "disrupted" a few Google locations, but the protests are "part of a longstanding campaign by a group of organizations and people who largely don't work at Google," a Google spokesperson said.

"After refusing multiple requests to leave the premises, law enforcement was engaged to remove them to ensure office safety," the Google spokesperson said. "We have so far concluded individual investigations that resulted in the termination of employment for 28 employees, and will continue to investigate and take action as needed."

Israel is one of "numerous" governments for which Google provides cloud computing services, the Google spokesperson said.

"This work is not directed at highly sensitive, classified, or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services," the Google spokesperson said.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
X-MAT introduces X-FOAM: A game-changing ceramic foam for extreme environments
NASA confirms support for delayed European Mars rover: ESA
NASA celebrates a decade of student contributions to space crop production

24/7 Energy News Coverage
MIT startup Mantel pioneers breakthrough system for capturing CO2 and delivering usable steam to industries
NASA's X-59 soars on historic first flight, marks breakthrough for quiet supersonic travel
New class of soft materials process logic using beams of light

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Aerodata debuts AeroForce X MALE UAV for long endurance ISR missions
Europe backs secure satellite communications with multibillion euro package
Faraday Effect Reveals Magnetic Role of Light in New Study

24/7 News Coverage
Record-breaking heatwaves projected to last a millennium even after net zero target is reached
Redefining AI Creativity Limits Findings Diminish Role of Generative Models in Artistic Fields
NASA, Aerospace Corporation Study Sharpens Focus on Ammonia Emissions


All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.