“No Tech for Apartheid”: Project Nimbus, Google, and the Apple Stores Come Together to End the Israeli War on Palestine
The protest at the building in Silicon Valley occupied Thomas Kurian, the CEO of the cloud division, for more than eight hours. The New York protest occupied a common area on the tenth floor of Google’s Chelsea location.
Documents from the contract show that it includes video analysis, which led to a protest by workers outside of the company’s offices. Tech workers are protesting, saying that Israel could use such capabilities to harm Palestinians.
Project Nimbus has been the target of protests by Google and Amazon workers for years. The tech workers from M Power Change and Jewish Voice for Peace formed a campaign group called No Tech for Apartheid after details about the cloud contract became public.
More than 600 people signed a petition opposing the company’s sponsorship of the conference after Eddie Hatfield interrupted the Managing Director of the company at Mind the Tech. Three days after Hatfield was fired, the trust-and-safety-policy employee who was against Project Nimbus resigned from her position.
Then, in late March, more than 300 Apple workers signed an open letter that alleged retaliation against workers who have expressed support for Palestinians, and urged company leadership to show public support for Palestinians.
The sit-in at Hasan Ibraheem’s local New York office is being attended by other software engineers. He tells WIRED that this has been a culmination of their efforts.
WIRED cannot comment on the arrests of protesters in New York and Sunnyvale in the Israeli Defence Forces’ response to the Gaza attack
Israel’s military assault on Gaza, which began after Hamas killed about 1,100 Israelis on October 7, has added new fuel to the internal opposition to Project Nimbus. The Israel Defence Forces have killed more than 34,000 Palestinians since bombing and moving into Gaza last fall.
WIRED can’t vouch for the legality of the situation in New York and Sunnyvale, where police are thought to have arrested and charged several workers. A person involved in coordinating the protests says the New York workers were arrested with desk appearance tickets, which specify when a person must appear in court. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A protester says that they will not be leaving. A man in uniform then introduces the officers as NYPD and delivers a final ultimatum, saying the workers have a last chance to walk out freely. He says you can be arrested if you aren’t present. When the protesters again decline to go, police officers put them in handcuffs.
