Two staff members were dismissed after occupying the company president’s office, demanding an end to contracts with Israel.

Two Microsoft employees have been dismissed after taking part in a sit-in at the office of the company’s president, protesting Microsoft’s business ties with Israel, Reuters news agency reported on Thursday.

A company spokesperson said the firings were due to “serious breaches of company policies and our code of conduct,” describing the action as a “break-in at the executive offices.”

According to the activist group No Azure for Apartheid, the two employees – Anna Hattle and Riki Fameli – learned of their dismissal via company voicemails.

The protest was sparked by revelations in The Guardian that Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform had been used by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) to store call data obtained through mass surveillance of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Microsoft said it is reviewing the report.

Boycott Microsoft. Israel’s Unit 8200, the military's intelligence arm, used a dedicated section of Microsoft’s Azure cloud to store recordings of millions of Palestinian phone calls daily. The data was allegedly used to help plan airstrikes in Gaza and the West Bank. pic.twitter.com/JwsokfDxvl

— Dr. Omar Suleiman (@omarsuleiman) August 20, 2025

Arrests at Microsoft Headquarters

Hattle and Fameli were among seven protesters arrested Tuesday after occupying the president’s office at the company’s headquarters to demand an end to its ties with the Israeli government.

“We are here because Microsoft continues to provide Israel with the tools it needs to commit genocide while gaslighting and misdirecting its own workers about this reality,” Hattle said in a statement.

‘A Million Calls An Hour’: How Israel Uses Microsoft for Palestinian Surveillance

No Azure for Apartheid has long urged the company to sever ties with “Israel” and compensate Palestinians. Responding to the sit-in, company president Brad Smith said, “We respect the freedom of expression that everyone in this country enjoys as long as they do it lawfully.”

This was not the first employee-led protest at Microsoft over its contracts with “Israel.” Last week, 18 people were arrested during a demonstration in the company’s headquarters plaza. 

Earlier this year, one employee was dismissed in May after interrupting CEO Satya Nadella’s speech, while two others were fired in April for disrupting Microsoft’s 50th-anniversary celebration.

Leaks reveal Microsoft helped Israel deploy Azure cloud for mass surveillance and airstrike planning.

Leaked documents reveal Microsoft’s Azure cloud was used by Israel’s Unit 8200 for mass surveillance on Palestinians, recording millions of calls from Gaza and the West Bank.… pic.twitter.com/pAkU26VW3L

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) August 11, 2025

Microsoft Under Scrutiny

The most recent wave of protests followed an investigation by +972 Magazine and Local Call, which revealed that Israel’s Unit 8200 intelligence division stores massive amounts of recorded Palestinian phone calls using Microsoft’s Azure platform. 

The company said it had been unaware that its services were being used for surveillance of civilians and pledged to launch an independent review.

Activists, however, say Microsoft’s response falls far short. “You continue to try to bury your head in the sand, so we are here today outside your blood-soaked thrones, to continue pulling your baby-killer necks out of your sand holes and force you to confront your complicity, until you stop powering the murdering of our people,” protester Ibitihal Aboussad declared.

According to Bloomberg, Microsoft has taken extraordinary steps to suppress the demonstrations, including seeking assistance from the FBI to monitor protests and working with local authorities to shut them down.

(PC, Al Mayadeen, Reuters)