Amazon fires worker who was suspended for protesting firm’s work with Israel


A girl cleans the shop window of the Amazon home after activists sprayed paint on its brand throughout a protest on the opening day of the fifty fifth annual assembly of the World Financial Discussion board in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 20, 2025.

Yves Herman | Reuters

Amazon fired a Palestinian engineer who was suspended final month after he protested the corporate’s work with the Israeli authorities.

Ahmed Shahrour, who labored as a software program engineer in Amazon’s Complete Meals enterprise in Seattle, obtained an e mail on Monday informing him of his termination. When he was suspended in September, Amazon mentioned the choice was the results of messages Shahrour posted on Slack criticizing the corporate’s ties to Israel.

Amazon mentioned its investigation discovered Shahrour had violated the corporate’s requirements of conduct, written communication coverage and acceptable use coverage, alleging that he “misused firm sources, together with by posting quite a few non-work-related messages pertaining to the Israel-Palestine battle.”

“Within the subsequent 24hrs you’ll obtain an e mail with detailed details about your termination, together with details about your advantages and ultimate pay,” an Amazon human sources worker wrote in a message to Shahrour that was obtained by CNBC. “We respect the contributions you’ve got made throughout your time with Amazon and want you one of the best in your future endeavors.”

An worker group related to Shahrour put out a day press launch saying that he was fired after a five-week suspension “for protesting Amazon’s $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli authorities and navy, generally known as Venture Nimbus, which he states constitutes collaboration within the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”

Shahrour had urged the corporate to drop the contract that includes Amazon offering the Israeli authorities with synthetic intelligence instruments, knowledge facilities and different infrastructure. He additionally protested and handed out flyers at Amazon’s downtown Seattle headquarters.

In a press release to CNBC, Shahrour mentioned his firing is “a blatant act of retaliation designed to silence dissent from Palestinian voices inside Amazon and defend Amazon’s collaboration within the genocide from inside scrutiny.”

Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser instructed CNBC in a press release that the corporate does not tolerate “discrimination, harassment or threatening conduct or language of any form in our office.”

“When any conduct of that nature is reported, we examine it and take applicable motion primarily based on our findings,” Glasser mentioned.

Shahrour’s termination comes on the identical day that Palestinian militant group Hamas launched the primary seven surviving Israeli hostages, marking the primary stage of a ceasefire deal brokered with the assistance of U.S. President Donald Trump. As a part of the settlement, Israel was additionally scheduled to free practically 2,000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners later within the day.

The conflict began simply over two years in the past, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing roughly 1,200 folks and taking a whole bunch of hostages. Israel adopted with a sustained assault that killed greater than 67,000 Palestinians, together with 1000’s of civilians, in response to Gaza’s Well being Ministry.

Throughout the tech business, employees have turn out to be extra outspoken of their criticism of enterprise dealings with the Israeli navy.

On Thursday, a Microsoft engineer resigned after 13 years on the software program large, claiming the corporate continues to promote cloud companies to the Israeli navy and that executives will not talk about the conflict in Gaza. Scott Sutfin-Glowski, a principal software program engineer, knowledgeable colleagues in a letter that, “I can not settle for enabling what often is the worst atrocities of our time.”

Within the letter, he referred to a February Related Press article that mentioned Israel’s navy had not less than 635 Microsoft subscriptions, and he claimed the overwhelming majority of them stay energetic.

Microsoft fired two workers in August who participated in a protest inside the corporate’s headquarters. In April 2024, Google terminated 28 workers after a sequence of protests in opposition to labor situations and its involvement in Venture Nimbus.

Amazon hasn’t acknowledged the Nimbus contract past stating that it supplies know-how to prospects “wherever they’re situated.” Google has beforehand mentioned it supplies typically accessible cloud computing companies to the Israeli authorities that are not “directed at extremely delicate, labeled or navy workloads.” Microsoft mentioned in August that the majority of its work with Israel Protection Forces includes cybersecurity for the nation, and that the corporate intends to offer know-how in an moral method.

— CNBC’s Jordan Novet contributed to this report.

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