Pro-Palestinian demonstrators hold banners and signs as they protest outside the Microsoft Build conference at the Seattle Convention Center in Seattle, Washington on May 19, 2025.
Jason Redmond | Afp | Getty Images
Microsoft on Thursday said that it had terminated two employees who broke into President Brad Smith’s office earlier this week.
The news comes after seven current and former Microsoft employees on Tuesday held a protest in the company’s building in Redmond, Washington, in opposition to the Israeli military’s alleged use of the company’s software as part of its invasion of Gaza.
The protesters, affiliated with the group No Azure for Apartheid, gained entry into Smith’s office and had demanded that Microsoft end its direct and indirect support to Israel.
In a post on Instagram, No Azure for Apartheid said Riki Fameli and Anna Hattle had been fired by the company.
“Two employees were terminated today following serious breaches of company policies and our code of conduct,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement, noting unlawful break-ins at the executive offices.
“These incidents are inconsistent with the expectations we maintain for our employees. The company is continuing to investigate and is cooperating fully with law enforcement regarding these matters,” the statement added.
In the aftermath of the protests, Smith claimed that the protestors had blocked people out of the office, planted listening devices in the form of phones, and refused to leave until they were removed by police.
No Azure For Apartheid defines itself as “a movement of Microsoft workers demanding that Microsoft end its direct and indirect complicity in Israeli apartheid and genocide.”
The Guardian earlier this month reported that the Israeli military had used Microsoft’s Azure cloud infrastructure to store the phone calls of Palestinians, leading the company to authorize a third-party investigation into whether its technology has been used in surveillance.
Smith said on Tuesday that the company would “investigate and get to the truth” of how services are being used.
According to Smith, No Azure For Apartheid also mounted protests around the company’s campus last week, leading to 20 arrests in one day, with 16 having never worked at Microsoft.
No Azure for Apartheid has held a series of actions this year, including at Microsoft’s Build developer conference and at a celebration of the company’s 50th anniversary. Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that a Microsoft director had reached out to the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding the protests.
Microsoft’s actions come after tech giant Google fired 28 employees last year following a series of protests against labor conditions and the company’s contract with the Israeli government and military for cloud computing and artificial intelligence services. In that case, some employees had gained access to the office of Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google’s cloud unit.
— CNBC’s Jordan Novet contributed to this report.
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