Microsoft fires four employees over Gaza war protest

Anna Hattle and Riki Fameli were among those arrested after a sit‑in at company president Brad Smith’s office; both later received voicemail notices of termination, according to the activist group No Azure for Apartheid. The group said two others — Nisreen Jaradat and Julius Shan — were also fired after participating in protest encampments at Microsoft’s headquarters.

Demonstrators accuse the company of enabling Israeli military operations through its Azure cloud, citing a joint investigation that found Israeli surveillance agencies use the platform to store mass phone data from Palestinians. Rights groups have condemned corporate ties to Israel as Gaza’s humanitarian crisis deepens.