Indian-origin engineer resigns from Microsoft to protest company’s alleged support for Israel
A software engineer of Indian origin Vaniya Agrawal has resigned from Microsoft to protest the United States technology conglomerate’s role in supplying artificial intelligence technology to the Israeli military amid the war on Gaza.
A group named “No Azure For Apartheid”, representing Microsoft employees who are against the company sharing its technology with Israel, shared in a blog on Monday with Agrawal’s resignation letter.
Azure is Microsoft’s public cloud computing platform. It provides computing, analytics, storage and networking services.
The email was shared days after Agrawal interrupted Microsoft’s 50th anniversary celebration, when the company’s co-founder Bill Gates, former Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer and current Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella were on stage.
“Shame on you all,” Agrawal told them on Friday, according to The Verge. “You are all hypocrites. Fifty thousand Palestinians in Gaza have been murdered with Microsoft technology. Shame on all of you for celebrating on their blood. Cut ties with Israel.”
Before her, another Microsoft software engineer, Ibtihal Aboussad, had interrupted Mustafa Suleyman, the CEO of the company’s artificial intelligence unit, during the event.
“You claim that you care about using AI for good but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military,” Aboussad told Suleyman.
On Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that Microsoft had fired Aboussad.
In the termination letter sent to Aboussad, the company accused her of...
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