Google has terminated over two dozen employees who participated in protests against the company’s cloud computing contract with the Israeli government, CNN International reported.
The workers were fired following an investigation that determined they had conducted protests inside Google’s offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California.
According to a post on X by the organising group No Tech For Apartheid, protesters in Sunnyvale entered the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian.
During the protests, demonstrators held banners reading “No More Genocide For Profit” and “We Stand with Palestinian, Arab and Muslim Googlers.”
A Google spokesperson told CNN on Thursday that the protests were part of a sustained campaign by individuals and organisations mostly not employed by Google.
The spokesperson stated, “A small group of employee protesters entered and disrupted several of our locations. Physically obstructing other employees’ work and preventing them from accessing our facilities is a clear violation of our policies and entirely unacceptable behaviour. After repeatedly refusing requests to vacate the premises, law enforcement was called in to ensure office safety.”
“We have completed individual investigations resulting in the termination of employment for 28 employees, and will continue to investigate and take necessary action.”
No Tech For Apartheid has strongly condemned the dismissals, stating that Google’s actions demonstrate a prioritisation of its $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli government and military (known as Project Nimbus) over its own workers. They described this as “blatant retaliation” in a statement published on Medium on Thursday.
