Multiple Microsoft Employees Disrupted A Major Event To Call Out Its Complicity In Israel’s Genocide
Microsoft employees have led an initiative demanding the company to cut its ties with Israel and holding it accountable for complicity in Israel's genocide in Gaza.
Multiple pro-Palestine Microsoft employees disrupted Microsoft’s annual conference for two days in a row, protesting the company’s ties to the Israeli military and its complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
On Monday, May 20, a Microsoft firmware engineer, Joe Lopez, interrupted Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's opening keynote speech in Seattle, Washington, shouting, “Satya, how about you show how Microsoft is killing Palestinians?” before being escorted out by security.”
A former Google employee who was filming Lopez also joined the protest, shouting “free Palestine” before being removed from the event too.
An investigation by the Associated Press in February 2025 revealed that AI models developed by Microsoft and OpenAI are being used as part of an Israeli military program to select bombing targets during its campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon.
Microsoft Azure is a wide range of cloud services and AI services, which provides cloud and AI to the Israeli government, military and the Israeli defense ministry.
Microsoft said in a statement it maintains a commercial relationship with the Israeli Defense Ministry, adding that it provided “limited emergency support” to the Israeli government following Oct. 7, 2023, claiming the aid aimed to help rescue hostages and that there is no evidence that it was used to harm civilians in Gaza.
The next day, a Palestinian Microsoft employee also disrupted the keynote speech of Microsoft’s AI development executive Jay Parikh, saying, “My people are suffering. Cut ties with Israel.”
Both employees are part of the No Azure for Apartheid campaign, an initiative led by Microsoft workers demanding the company cut its ties with the Israeli government and military and holding it accountable for complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Nira Nyangweso
Isha Jain
Kassy Cho
