Dozens of Google employees began occupying the company's offices in New York City and Sunnyvale, California, on Tuesday to protest the company's $1.2 billion contract to provide cloud computing services to the Israeli government.
The sit-ins, organized by the activist group No Tech for Apartheid, are being held at Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian's office in Sunnyvale and the 10th floor commons of Google's New York office. The sit-in will be accompanied by outdoor protests at Google offices in New York, Sunnyvale, San Francisco, and Seattle starting at 2 p.m. ET and 11 a.m. PT.
Tuesday's action marks an escalation in a recent series of protests organized by technology workers against the relationship between their employers and the Israeli government, especially in light of Israel's continued attacks on Gaza. Since Hamas killed about 1,100 Israelis on October 7, the IDF has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians.
The 2021 deal, known as “Project Nimbus,” involves Google and Amazon working together to provide cloud computing infrastructure and services to departments of the Israeli government. last week, time Google reported that its work on Project Nimbus includes providing direct services to the Israel Defense Forces. No Tech for Aparttheid is a coalition of tech workers and organizers dedicated to MPower Change and Jewish Voices for Peace, a Muslim- and Jewish-led peace-focused activist organization, respectively. The coalition was formed shortly after the signing of Project Nimbus, and details were made public in 2021.
No Tech for Apartheid also released an open letter signed by 18 other organizations calling on Google and Amazon to immediately halt their Project Nimbus efforts. As of this writing, he has collected over 93,000 signatures from the general public. In addition to Project Nimbus, the letter also cites recent reports that the IDF used Google Photos to identify and detain Palestinians en masse in the West Bank.
Google did not immediately respond to WIRED's request for comment.
On March 4, Google cloud software engineer Eddie Hatfield interrupted Google Israel's managing director and 600 others at Mind The Tech, a conference the company hosted focused on Israel's technology industry. Google employees have signed a petition opposing the company's sponsorship of the conference. After Hatfield was fired three days later, Google's head of trust and safety policy, Vidana Abdel Khalek, resigned from her position in protest of Project Nimbus.
And in late March, more than 300 Apple employees signed an open letter alleging retaliation against employees who expressed support for the Palestinians and calling on company executives to show public support for the Palestinians. .
Google software engineer Hassan Ibraheem is participating in a sit-in at his local Google office in New York. “This is really the culmination of all our efforts,” he told WIRED.
Since joining No Tech for Apartheid in December, Ibraheem has participated in weekly “Build the Table” activities at Google Office Cafes in New York, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, California, and San Francisco. That's what it means. During his lunch break, he holds a placard that says “Ask me a question about Project Nimbus,'' hands out flyers, and answers questions from colleagues.
