Google Fires Employee for Protest at Israel Tech Event

During a keynote speech in New York on Monday, a Google Cloud engineer publicly protested against building harmful technology for supporting genocide. As a result, Google fired that employee for his protest at an Israel tech event. This incident adds to a series of challenges Google has faced in managing internal dissent and navigating political and cultural controversies.

Recently, Google’s internal communication platform saw an increase in discussions about the company’s military contracts with Israel, coinciding with the crisis in Gaza. As a result, the platform, which was intended to help shape questions for executives at an upcoming event, was shut down due to what a Google spokesperson described as “divisive content that is disruptive to our workplace.”

Google Fires Employee for Protest at Israel Tech Event

Google’s involvement in providing technology to militaries, both in the U.S. and abroad, has been a point of contention among its employees. This discord dates back to at least 2018 when protests erupted over the company’s involvement in the Defense Department’s Project Maven. More recently, Google’s participation in Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion artificial intelligence and computing services agreement with the Israeli government and military, has also sparked outrage among some employees.

The company’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, has often found himself defending Google’s actions in the face of employee criticism. The ongoing conflict in the Middle East has further heightened tensions within the company, particularly following the escalation of violence in Gaza, which resulted in significant casualties and widespread destruction.

In response to the controversy surrounding its involvement in the Israeli tech industry, more than 600 Google employees signed a letter urging the company to drop its sponsorship of the annual Mind the Tech conference. The protest during Barak Regev’s keynote speech at the event in New York, where the employee shouted “No cloud for apartheid,” went viral.

In a statement, a Google spokesperson confirmed the employee’s termination, citing “interference with an official company-sponsored event.” The spokesperson emphasized that Google will not tolerate such behaviour, regardless of the issue at hand.

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