Google terminates 28 employees who protested against $1.2 billion Israeli contract | Global News

Google Fires 28 Employees for Protesting Project Nimbus Contract with Israeli Government

Alphabet Inc.’s Google has made headlines after firing 28 employees who participated in protests against Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion joint contract with Amazon.com Inc. to provide AI and cloud services to the Israeli government. The protests, organised by the No Tech for Apartheid organisation, took place at Google offices in New York City, Seattle, and Sunnyvale, California.

Protesters staged a nearly 10-hour sit-in at offices in New York and California, with nine individuals being arrested on trespassing charges. Following the protests, several workers received messages from Google’s Employee Relations group informing them that they had been put on leave. Subsequently, the employees were informed that they were being dismissed by the company.

Google representatives have not yet commented on the situation, but the activist group involved in the protests stated that they have not had direct communication with Google executives in their three years of organising against Project Nimbus. This move by Google comes amidst a backdrop of increasing employee activism within the tech industry, with workers advocating for a say in how their work products are used.

Despite the dismissals, employees involved in the protests have reported an increase in support since the sit-in. The incident has sparked internal debate within Google about the Middle East conflict, with some employees expressing pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli sentiments. Moderators have had to lock down some internal forum threads due to the heated discussions.