Washington - Saba:
A Microsoft engineer has accused the company of complicity in the genocide committed by the Israeli occupation in Gaza Strip since October 2023.
The protest took place during Microsoft's "Build 2025"conference, held in Seattle, Washington, from May 19 to 22, as reported by The Verge.
Joe Lopez, an engineer on Microsoft’s Azure AI services team, disrupted the opening keynote speech by CEO Satya Nadella, shouting:
"Satya! Why don’t you show how Microsoft is contributing to the killing of Palestinians? Why don’t you explain how Azure is supporting Israel’s war crimes?"
Security personnel quickly removed him from the hall. As he was escorted out, Lopez declared:
"As a Microsoft employee, I refuse to be complicit in this genocide."
Lopez is a member of the activist movement "No to Azure for Apartheid."
In an email sent to Microsoft employees after the event, he expressed his dismay over the company’s ongoing contracts with the Israeli Ministry of Defense, stating:
"I cannot stay silent while Microsoft continues to contribute to the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people."
He criticized the company’s internal oversight as insufficient and called for greater transparency, describing Microsoft’s denial that Azure technology is used to target civilians in Gaza as:
"A lie told deliberately and in plain sight."
Lopez emphasized that Microsoft, as one of the world’s largest tech companies, holds "immense power" to do what is right and urged an end to technological support for Israel.
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