“Google Terminates 28 Employees Following Arrests in Connection to Anti-Israel Protest”
Image Source: India Today
Google has recently made headlines as it laid off 28 employees who participated in a sit-down protest regarding the company’s alleged involvement with Israel. The protests erupted over Google’s purported $1.2 billion agreement with the Israeli government, particularly its military.
The dismissals came after a series of events unfolded, starting with employees, some adorned in traditional Arab headscarves, marching to the office of Google’s top cloud executive in California, while others staged sit-ins at Google’s New York City headquarters.
The culmination of these protests occurred on April 16 when Google employees advocating for the cessation of business ties with Israel’s government and military occupied Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian’s office in California, leading to their subsequent arrests.
According to reports, these employees were terminated following an internal probe, as indicated in a company-wide memo by Chris Rackow, Google’s vice president of worldwide security. Rackow condemned the employees’ actions, citing them as unacceptable, extremely disruptive, and causing coworkers to feel threatened. The memo stated that 28 employees involved in the protest were terminated, with further investigations ongoing.
The movement, known as “No Tech for Apartheid,” aimed to pressure Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, into discontinuing its involvement in what protestors perceived as supporting Israel’s actions against Palestinians in Gaza. While it remains unclear if all nine arrested employees were among those terminated, Google had previously placed them on administrative leave and restricted their access to internal systems.
The controversy stems from Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion initiative providing cloud services to the Israeli government, including its military. This situation underscores the challenges multinational corporations face when their business decisions intersect with geopolitical conflicts, sparking internal dissent and external scrutiny.
Author:- Apoorva Arora