Activists urged Microsoft to cut ties with Israeli military during protest at HQ

Microsoft workers and community members once again held a pro-Palestinian protest outside the company’s headquarters in Redmond Tuesday.

The protest coincides with Microsoft Ignite, the company’s premier conference, underway in San Francisco.

The group No Azure for Apartheid called on Microsoft to sever business with the Israeli military, and says that until it does, Microsoft is complicit in genocide in Gaza.

Organizers argued that Microsoft’s technologies enable surveillance and war crimes.

“Microsoft continues to actively arm the ongoing genocide against Palestinians as Israel commits flagrant violations of the so-called ceasefire in Gaza, blocks and sabotages aid, and escalates ethnic cleansing in the West Bank,” No Azure for Apartheid stated. “Microsoft Ignite, the company’s premier conference with over 15,000 attendees, will be marketing Cloud & AI technologies — the same technologies Microsoft sells to the Israeli military to commit war crimes.”

Around 20 people take part in rally outside Microsoft HQ

Only about 20 people took part in the rally that lasted a little more than an hour. They were loud but completely peaceful. They said they are happy about what appears to be a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel. However, they said talks of an agreement, so far, have meant nothing.

“What does a ceasefire really mean when Israel has continued to kill, murder, and bomb Palestinians daily. Hundreds have been killed since this so-called ceasefire,” Vaniya Agrawal with No Azure for Apartheid said.

The rally began at 11:30 a.m., while a similar protest is taking place in San Francisco. Other organizations involved in the protest in tandem with No Azure for Apartheid are Amazon Worker Intifada, Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return at University of Washington, and Seattle Against War.

In September, Microsoft decided to terminate the Israeli military’s access to technology that the company used to collect millions of Palestinian civilian phone calls made each day in Gaza and the West Bank, according to The Guardian. But for No Azure for Apartheid, that’s not enough.

“They pulled some Microsoft services from some Israeli military units, but the majority of the ties between Microsoft and the Israeli military are fully intact,” Agrawal said. “Microsoft continues to provide technological weapons to the Israeli military, and so we are here to tell them that partial divestment is not enough and we demand full divestment.”

Microsoft responds to protest

KIRO Newsradio reached out to Microsoft for comment.

They sent us a statement saying, in part, “We are aware of the activity. Appropriate teams are engaged to help minimize these disruptions. We respect the right to peaceful assembly and ask that it be done in a way that does not cause business disruption.”

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