Google has fired 28 employees who participated in a 10-hour sit-in protest at the company’s offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California. The protest was organized by pro-Palestinian staffers who were demonstrating against Google’s business ties with the Israeli government. The employees, who wore traditional Arab headscarves during the protest, were terminated after an internal investigation found their behavior to be unacceptable and disruptive.
The protesters had occupied office spaces, defaced property, and physically impeded the work of other employees. Google’s vice president of global security, Chris Rackow, stated in a companywide memo that the behavior of the fired employees violated multiple policies, including the code of conduct and policy on harassment, discrimination, and retaliation.
The protesters demanded that Google pull out of a $1.2 billion contract known as “Project Nimbus,” which provides cloud-computing and artificial intelligence services to the Israeli government and military. Critics raised concerns that the technology could be used against Palestinians in Gaza.
In response to the firings, the impacted workers criticized Google for valuing its contract with the Israeli government over its own employees. They accused Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, and the CEO of its cloud unit, Thomas Kurian, of profiting from genocide.
The protest involved approximately 50 participants in New York and 80 participants in California, with a total of nine protesters arrested for trespassing. Google confirmed the firings and stated that the protests were part of a longstanding campaign by individuals outside the company. The company emphasized that disruptive behavior would not be tolerated and that further investigations would be conducted if necessary.