Microsoft Fires Two Engineers After High-Profile Protests Over Israeli Military AI Contracts

(RTTNews) - Microsoft has dismissed two software engineers who publicly protested the company's AI work with the Israeli military during its 50th anniversary celebration, intensifying scrutiny over its role in global defense contracts.

Ibtihal Aboussad, a Toronto-based engineer in Microsoft's AI division, was fired Monday for what the company called "willful misconduct and disobedience." During a keynote speech by Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman, Aboussad stood up and denounced the company's role in supplying AI tools to Israel, accusing Microsoft of enabling "genocide" in Gaza. She was escorted out of the event after calling Suleyman a "war profiteer" and claiming Microsoft had "blood on its hands."

Aboussad followed up with a strongly worded email to senior executives, including CEO Satya Nadella, stating, "I did not sign up to write code that violates human rights." Microsoft cited the message as confirmation of deliberate misconduct.

The second protester, engineer Vaniya Agrawal, had already submitted her resignation effective April 11, but Microsoft accelerated her departure on Monday, citing her disruption during a separate event with Nadella. In her own message to executives, Agrawal accused the company of being "complicit in surveillance, apartheid, and genocide."

The protests followed a report from the Associated Press revealing that Microsoft and OpenAI's tools had been used by the Israeli military to assist in airstrike targeting, including one in 2023 that killed four civilians in Lebanon.

Microsoft defended its actions, saying it provides "many avenues" for employees to voice concerns but insists such actions must not disrupt operations. The firings mirror similar internal tensions at Google, where staff walkouts over military AI projects led to mass terminations.

The controversy underscores growing employee resistance within tech companies as ethical concerns over AI and global defense contracts mount.