Google employees protesting against the company’s work with Israel were arrested on Tuesday. The employees were arrested from multiple locations including their New York City office as well as Sunnyvale California office.
The employees’ protest comes amid escalating global tensions between Israel and Iran. This is not the first time Google employees protested the company’s part in the development of certain projects involving the Israeli govt.
A Washington Post report claimed that nine employees were arrested at both locations citing Jane Chung, a spokesperson for the protesters. A report claimed that some NYPD officers informed protesters that they would be arrested if they did not leave.
According to the report, Google spokesperson, Bailey Tomson, stated that the employees were put on administrative leave and their access to Google’s systems was cut. The protesters were demanding Google pull out of a $1.2 billion contract, known as Nimbus, with Amazon to provide cloud services and data centers to the Israeli government.
Some of the protesters at the site were fully aware that their actions could eventually lead to the termination of their job. One such employee, Zelda Montes, a software engineer with Google’s YouTube, revealed that it was possible she would be removed from her position due to the protest.
Montes said, “We often have the privilege of looking the other way and not to have to think about the impact of our work on the world. I have been waiting for months for people to be in the same position as me and be ready to put their job on the line.”
The protests have increased over the past seven months due to ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip. In early March, Google fired a worker who protested during a speech by Google’s top executive in Israel.
The contract that is being protested was signed with the Israeli government as a whole. Some tech employees raised concerns that their work could be used for military purposes as the contract claimed that the companies couldn’t deny services to specific parts of the Israeli govt. Last week, Time Magazine reported that Google has been in discussions with Israel’s Defense Ministry. Amazon employees also attended rallies on Tuesday, opposing the contract with Israel.
