[News] Activists condemn Microsoft’s complicity in Israeli genocide in Gaza

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 Activists condemn Microsoft’s complicity in Israeli genocide in Gaza

Friday 20-June-2025 - https://english.palinfo.com/news/2025/06/20/341663/
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WASHINGTON, (PIC)

Two senior executives at American tech giant Microsoft were met with strong
protest during an artificial intelligence conference in Seattle, as
activists accused the company of supporting “the genocide being committed
by Israel in the Gaza Strip.”

The protest took place during the “Ethics & Technology 2025: Governing
Artificial Intelligence” conference organized by Seattle University in
Washington on Thursday. Activists from the group “No Azure for Apartheid”,
along with members of several civil society organizations, disrupted
speeches by Mike Jackson, Deputy General Manager of Microsoft’s Office of
Artificial Intelligence, and Teresa Hutson, Vice President of Corporate
Responsibility at Microsoft, by chanting slogans condemning the company’s
collaboration with Israel.

No Azure for Apartheid is a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel group that opposes
Israeli crimes and operates under the slogan:

We refuse to be complicit.

Join the growing No Tech for Apartheid movement and demand that Microsoft
live up to its own purported ethical values—by ending its direct and
indirect complicity in Israeli apartheid and genocide.

Join us, alongside students, teachers, activists, cultural workers,
healthcare workers, and trade unions, alongside the International Court of
Justice, alongside ordinary people in the streets and Palestinians
worldwide, in building a new future where Palestine is free.

Protesters carried signs reading: “AI is irresponsible” and “End all
contracts with Israel now.” They chanted slogans such as:
• “Microsoft, you can’t hide, you support genocide,” and
• “Divest now, we won’t stop, we won’t be silent!”

Despite attempts by organizers to silence the protesters, Jackson was
forced to leave the stage within minutes, while the protests continued
inside the hall. This led the conference administration to cancel the
session and evacuate the venue.

The activists continued their demonstration in the building’s lobby, waving
Palestinian flags and criticizing Seattle University for inviting Microsoft
to the event. They stated that the university “should be ashamed” for
hosting Microsoft representatives.

In mid-May, Microsoft issued a statement confirming that it provides cloud
computing and artificial intelligence services to the Israeli Army
Ministry. However, the company claimed there was no evidence that these
technologies were being used to harm civilians.

A January 2025 investigation by the Associated Press revealed that AI
models developed by Microsoft and OpenAI were used as part of an Israeli
military program to select bombing targets in Gaza and Lebanon.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel—backed by the U.S.—has been carrying out a
genocide in Gaza involving killings, starvation, destruction, and forced
displacement, ignoring all international appeals and orders from the
International Court of Justice to stop. The genocide has resulted in
approximately 186,000 people killed or wounded—most of them women and
children—over 11,000 missing, hundreds of thousands displaced, and famine
that has claimed the lives of many, including children.
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