Google employees, part of a group called “No Tech for Apartheid,” staged protests at the company’s offices in New York City, California, and Seattle on April 16, 2024. The protests were against Google’s ties to the Israeli government, specifically its participation in “Project Nimbus” — a $1.2 billion contract with Israel that involves Google Cloud as well as Amazon Web Services.
In California, Google staffers wearing traditional Arab headscarves barged into the office of Thomas Kurian, the CEO of Google Cloud. They read statements denouncing the company over its contract with the Israeli government, which the group accuses of carrying out a “genocide” in its bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip.
In New York City, another group of protesters occupied the 10th floor of Google offices in the Chelsea section of Manhattan. The protest also extended to the company’s offices in Seattle for what it called “No Tech for Genocide Day of Action.”
The protesters demanded that Google cancel its participation in Project Nimbus. They also accused the company of “harassment, bullying, and censorship” of Arab and Muslim employees. The activists appear to have also scribbled some pro-Palestinian slogans and statements on Kurian’s bulletin board.
The orchestrated sit-in comes on the heels of a Google software engineer publicly berating one of the company’s Israel-based executives during a tech conference in Manhattan last month. Google fired the worker. It is not clear what actions the company will take after the mass revolt inside its own walls.
Project Nimbus was originally announced in April 2021, but the eruption of hostilities between Israel and Gaza has brought the issue to the fore. Tech employees at both Amazon and Google have voiced concerns that the technology could be used by Israel’s military against Palestinians.
Read more at: nypost.com