Microsoft Corp. has dismissed two employees, Ibtihal Aboussad and Vaniya Agrawal, after they disrupted an event celebrating the company’s 50th anniversary.
Aboussad, who has called for Microsoft to stop doing business with the Israeli government, interrupted a speech by Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft’s consumer AI chief, on Friday. Agrawal later disrupted a Q&A session featuring Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, along with Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, the company’s former CEOs.
Event staff asked both employees to leave the venue, located at Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington, headquarters. Microsoft later informed Aboussad that her employment was terminated due to “acts of misconduct.” Agrawal, who had planned to resign on April 11, had her resignation accepted immediately.
Aboussad, in her protest, criticized Microsoft’s involvement with the Israeli military, saying, “You claim that you care about using AI for good, but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military. Fifty thousand people have died.” Suleyman acknowledged her protest with, “Thank you for your protest. I hear you.”
The company labeled Aboussad’s actions as “hostile, unprovoked and highly inappropriate” in her termination notice. Both employees were software engineers and were involved with the group “No Azure for Apartheid,” which has protested Microsoft’s sales to the Israeli military amid the Gaza conflict. After the protests, both employees lost access to their corporate email and chat accounts. Microsoft has not provided further comment on the situation.
Read More: “Shame on All of You”: Microsoft’s 50th Anniversary Disrupted by Pro-Palestine Protests
