2LT International News

REDMOND, Washington: Police arrested seven people this week after they staged a sit-in at the office of Microsoft President Brad Smith. The protest was part of an ongoing campaign against the company’s ties to the Israeli military during the war in Gaza, organizers said.

According to the activist group No Azure for Apartheid, some of those arrested were current or former Microsoft employees. The group takes its name from Microsoft’s cloud computing service, Azure, which is at the center of the controversy.

Earlier this month, the Guardian newspaper reported that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) had used Microsoft’s cloud systems to store and process surveillance data on Palestinians. That information, the paper alleged, may have been used to plan military strikes.

Police entered Smith’s office during the protest and detained the group. A livestream on the video platform Twitch showed the protesters sitting closely together as officers moved in. Outside, more demonstrators gathered in solidarity. Speaking later at a press briefing, Smith confirmed that two of those arrested were Microsoft employees.

This was not the first such protest. Just last week, police arrested 18 people at Microsoft headquarters after a demonstration in one of the company’s plazas. Activists have been pressuring the company for months. Earlier in the year, Microsoft fired an employee who interrupted CEO Satya Nadella during a speech, and it dismissed two others who disrupted a celebration marking the company’s 50th anniversary.

The group’s demands go beyond cutting ties with Israel. They are also calling for Microsoft to pay reparations to Palestinians, arguing that the company’s technology is contributing to civilian harm in Gaza and the West Bank.

Microsoft has pushed back against the allegations. The company said it has hired an outside law firm to investigate whether the Israeli military is misusing its cloud services. Smith told reporters that Microsoft’s rules forbid its technology from being used in ways that violate human rights. “There are many things we can’t do to change the world,” he said, “but we will do what we can and what we should. That starts with ensuring that our human rights principles and contractual terms of service are upheld everywhere, by all of our customers around the world.”

Still, critics point to the company’s close links with Israel’s defense establishment. Earlier this year, the Associated Press revealed new details about Microsoft’s partnership with the Israeli Ministry of Defense. According to the report, the ministry uses Microsoft’s Azure platform to transcribe, translate, and process intelligence collected through mass surveillance. The information is then checked against artificial intelligence systems that can help select military targets.

Microsoft has said that a review of its services found no proof that Azure or its AI tools were used directly to harm people in Gaza. However, the company has not released the full review. It has promised to make public the factual findings from the new investigation launched.

For now, protests against the company are likely to continue, as activists push Microsoft to take responsibility for how its technology is used in conflict zones.