Microsoft Engineer Disrupts CEO's Keynote Over Israel Contracts

During the Microsoft Build event on Monday, an engineer from the company, Joe Lopez, interrupted CEO Satya Nadella's keynote speech. Lopez, a firmware engineer on the Azure hardware systems team and a member of the activist group No Azure for Apartheid, shouted, "Satya, how about you show how Microsoft is killing Palestinians? How about you show how Israeli war crimes are powered by Azure?" before being removed from the event. Lopez's protest was part of a broader movement within Microsoft, with employees holding demonstrations against the company's contracts with the Israeli military. The protest began at 11 a.m. at Westlake Park, with one protester shouting, “Free Palestine!” as they interrupted the presentation. Nadella proceeded with his speech while security removed the demonstrators from the event.

Lopez's interruption was not an isolated incident. Following his removal, he emailed thousands of Microsoft colleagues expressing dismay over the company's ongoing contracts with Israel's Defense Ministry. "I can no longer stand by in silence as Microsoft continues to facilitate Israel's ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people," Lopez wrote, dismissing Microsoft's internal reviews as inadequate and calling for greater transparency. He was joined by a former Google employee who had previously protested that company's cloud contracts with Israel.

The protest represents escalating tensions within the broader No Azure for Apartheid movement, a collective of current and former Microsoft employees opposing contracts they claim support mass surveillance and AI-driven communication monitoring in Gaza. Microsoft has confirmed providing cloud and AI services to Israel's Defense Ministry while denying its tools were used to harm civilians. The company said it had launched internal and external reviews, finding "no evidence to date that Microsoft's Azure and AI technologies have been used to target or harm people in the conflict."

The controversy unfolds as Israel maintains closure of Gaza's crossings to humanitarian aid since March 2, deepening a crisis affecting 2.4 million Palestinians who depend entirely on such assistance. The protest highlights the growing internal dissent within Microsoft over its business dealings with the Israeli government, with employees calling for greater transparency and accountability. The incident also raises questions about the ethical implications of tech companies providing services to governments involved in conflict zones, and the responsibility of corporations to ensure their technologies are not used to harm civilians.