On Monday, Microsoft reportedly terminated two software engineers, Ibtihal Aboussad and Vaniya Agrawal, following their protest against the company’s alleged dealings with the Israeli military at the Copilot and 50th anniversary event last week.
An internal message seen by CNBC indicated that Microsoft communicated to Aboussad that concerns could have been raised “confidentially with your manager, or with Global Employee Relations.” Instead, Aboussad opted to disrupt the speech of Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman.
The incident on Friday occurred when Aboussad interrupted Suleyman’s keynote on new AI products, declaring that Suleyman had “blood on his hands.” The same day, Agrawal voiced protests during a panel featuring Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, former CEO Steve Ballmer, and founder Bill Gates by shouting “shame on all of you … Cut ties with Israel.”
Following these events, Aboussad reportedly emailed Microsoft employees and executives, accusing the company of silencing dissent. This email, as reported by CNBC, included a link to a petition from “No Azure for Apartheid,” an organization of Microsoft employees who have previously protested the company’s engagement with Israel.
