Google fires 28 US employees over protests against Israeli cloud deal

Google fired over two dozen employees who protested last week against the company’s cloud computing contract with the Israeli government.

The employees were fired following an investigation that revealed they had staged protests within Google’s offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California.

According to No Tech For Apartheid, Google and Amazon have a $1.2bn contract, named Project Nimbus, to supply cloud computing services to the Israeli government and military. The group strongly condemned the dismissals, CNN reported.

A Google spokesperson told CNN Thursday that the protests “were part of a long-standing campaign by a group of organizations and people who largely don’t work” at the company.

“A small number of employee protesters entered and disrupted a few of our locations. Physically impeding other employees’ work and preventing them from accessing our facilities is a clear violation of our policies, and completely unacceptable behavior. After refusing multiple requests to leave the premises, law enforcement was engaged to remove them to ensure office safety,” the spokesperson added.

“We have so far concluded individual investigations that resulted in the termination of employment for 28 employees, and will continue to investigate and take action as needed.”