Image Credit: No Tech for Apartheid
Sunnyvale, April 18 (RHC)-- Google has fired 28 employees who protested its $1.2 billion contract with Israel. Project Nimbus provides computing services to the Israeli military. This comes after peaceful sit-ins this week by Google workers at their New York City and Sunnyvale, California, offices, which resulted in nine arrests.
Kate Sim, a child safety policy adviser and one of the terminated workers, said: “Listen when employers tell you exactly who they are. McCarthyism is alive and well. Look how terrified they are of workers' power.”
The fired employees, part of a group called No Tech for Apartheid, have been writing letters and staging protests against Google’s deal to sell technology to Israel since 2021.
Since Israel’s genocidal war of aggression on Gaza, the clash over the cloud-computing contract, known as Nimbus, among employees at Google and Amazon has increased. The project is set to bolster the regime’s surveillance of Palestinians. Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion joint contract with Amazon provides the Zionist regime with AI and cloud services.
In its statement, No Tech for Apartheid cited a recent Time Magazine report that found Google had built custom tools for Israel's war ministry and had contracts with the Israeli Occupation Forces.
“After refusing multiple requests to leave the premises, law enforcement was engaged to remove them to ensure office safety,” the email said. “We have so far concluded individual investigations that resulted in the termination of employment for 28 employees, and will continue to investigate and take action as needed.”
The 28 employees who were fired from their jobs were informed through email leaving them shocked and angry over the company’s decision.
“I’m furious,” said one of the fired employees who helped organize the sit-in but didn’t directly participate. “This is a wildly disproportionate response to workers standing up for morality and for holding Google accountable for its own promises. Firing people associated with an event they don’t like — it’s unbelievable,” the Washington Post quoted an employee.
"Google workers have the right to peacefully protest about terms and conditions of our labor. These firings were clearly retaliatory," No Tech for Apartheid said in a statement.
Since Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza, workers across the world have stepped up their solidarity with Palestine and organized resistance to the supply of arms and military technology to Israel.
