Google Fires Employees Over Protests Against Israeli Government Contract

Google has dismissed 28 employees for their participation in sit-in protests at two of its offices this week, escalating its response to employee activism against the company’s involvement in Project Nimbus, a controversial $1.2 billion cloud computing contract with the Israeli government. This action follows the suspension and subsequent arrest of nine employees in New York and California earlier in the week, as reported by The Verge.

The protests centered around Google's participation in Project Nimbus, which also involves Amazon and has been a point of contention among Google employees who oppose the contract on ethical grounds. The situation intensified when protestors occupied the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, resulting in their removal by law enforcement. This is not the first instance of such firings; last month, another employee was terminated for protesting the same contract during a company event in Israel.

Chris Rackow, Google’s head of global security, addressed the situation in a company-wide memo, stating, "behavior like this has no place in our workplace and we will not tolerate it.” Rackow emphasized the company’s commitment to enforcing its policies against what it deems disruptive behavior, warning of further actions if necessary.

In retaliation, the protest group "No Tech for Apartheid," which has been vocal against Project Nimbus for three years, condemned the firings as a severe act of retaliation. The group argues that these dismissals violate Google workers' rights to peacefully protest labor conditions and terms. They expressed their frustration over the lack of dialogue from Google executives regarding their concerns, highlighting a significant disconnect between the company's management and its workforce on ethical issues.