Google fires 20 employees following protests over Israel project; claims each terminated worker had…

Google has fired 20 more employees in connection to protests against the company’s $1.2 billion cloud computing contract with the Israeli government, known as Project Nimbus. These terminations come after demonstrations at Google offices in New York City and Sunnyvale, California, on April 16. Activist group No Tech for Apartheid, which has been opposing major tech companies working with Israel since 2021, reported that Google has now fired a total of 50 workers.

“The corporation is attempting to quash dissent, silence its workers and reassert its power over them,” said Jane Chung, a spokesperson for No Tech for Apartheid. She claimed that some of the terminated employees were “non-participating bystanders.”

Google confirmed the additional firings after ongoing investigations into the April 16th protests, which disrupted operations. A spokesperson stated that each fired worker had actively disrupted offices.

The dismissals signal a growing tension between Google leadership and a group of employees who are against the company’s contract with the Israeli government. Last week, Google’s head of security condemned the protests in an internal memo, calling the behavior “unacceptable” and “extremely disruptive.”

Nine protesters were arrested after occupying Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian’s office for over 8 hours. Google subsequently fired 28 employees involved in the protest, sending a clear message that workplace conduct violations would not be tolerated.

CEO Sundar Pichai weighed in, emphasizing that while Google encourages open discussion, the workplace is not a platform for disruptive politics. He stated that the company’s goal is to organize information and that this objective supersedes everything else. The dismissals come amidst broader protests against cooperation between American entities and the Israeli government, with pro-Palestinian demonstrations and activism gaining momentum.