Microsoft fires employees who organized vigil for Palestinians

Microsoft has dismissed two employees who organized an unauthorized vigil at the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington for Palestinians killed in Gaza during Israel’s war with Hamas. The two employees were reportedly fired by phone call late Thursday, several hours after the lunchtime event. The workers were members of an employee coalition called “No Azure for Apartheid” which opposes Microsoft’s sale of its cloud-computing technology to the Israeli government. They said the event was similar to other Microsoft-sanctioned employee-giving campaigns. “We have so many community members within Microsoft who have lost family, lost friends or loved ones,” said Abdo Mohamed, a researcher and data scientist. “But Microsoft really failed to have the space for us where we can come together and share our grief and honor the memories of people who can no longer speak for themselves.” Microsoft said it had “ended the employment of some individuals in accordance with internal policy.”