Concerns over Israeli military ties mar Microsoft’s 50th anniversary
Pro-Palestine employees interrupted Microsoft’s 50th anniversary celebration, over concerns about the tech giant’s ties to Israel, the Middle East Eye reported on April 6th.
The event took place in Redmond, Washington, and was attended by many Microsoft employees, including co-founder Bill Gates.
During his address to the crowd, AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman was heckled by Ibtihal Aboussad, who emphatically declared, “You are a war profiteer. Stop using AI for genocide.”
“Mustafa, shame on you,” Aboussad maintained, approaching the stage. “50,000 people have died and Microsoft powers this genocide in our region.”
Suleyman acknowledged the disapproval. He said in response: “Thank you for your protest, I hear you.” Persisting, Aboussad raised her voice, condemning Suleyman and “all of Microsoft” for their bloodied hands, before she was ushered away.
Similarly, while Gates, former CEO Steve Ballmer, and current CEO Satya Nadella stood on stage, another employee, Vaniya Agrawal, interrupted the event, stating that Microsoft technology has claimed the lives of 50,000 Palestinians.
In her resignation email written after the event, Agarwal noted that she and her coworkers are complicit in the war on Gaza, through their employment at Microsoft.
The tech giant’s AI models—both their own and those of their partner, OpenAI—have been used to select bombing targets in Gaza and Lebanon, an AP investigation found.
Ex-OpenAI systems safety engineer, Heidy Khlaaf, warned that the AI models are known to have sub-optimal precision accuracy, and that dependence on these models for military operations will increase mass civilian casualties, according to AL24 News.
The protest is the most recent public denunciation of the tech industry’s accountability in supporting the Israeli military with artificial intelligence.
Artificial intelligence has also been leveraged by the US government, reportedly with aims to identify Pro-Palestinian students and revoke their visas.
Meanwhile, in March 2025, Google made a record-breaking $32 billion acquisition of an Israeli cloud security company named Wiz, which was founded by former members of a select cyber-espionage and surveillance unit of the Israeli army, the Middle East Eye reported on March 20th.
Beyond technology, in December 2024, Google matched donations made by its employees to Zionist charities, according to MiddleEastEye on December 4th.
Middle East Eye, Al24 News
