Protesters, including current Microsoft employees, occupied the president's office to protest the Israeli contract, and the president held an emergency press conference in the office after it was opened.



On August 26, 2025, local time, protests erupted at Microsoft's headquarters in Israel over the company's contracts with the government and military. After the protests ended, Microsoft President Brad Smith spoke at a press conference in his office.

Microsoft President Brad Smith reclaims his office to address infiltration, protests, Israel contracts – GeekWire

https://www.geekwire.com/2025/microsoft-president-brad-smith-reclaims-his-office-to-address-infiltration-protests-and-israeli-contracts/



'A million calls an hour': Israel relying on Microsoft cloud for expansive surveillance of Palestinians | Israel | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/06/microsoft-israeli-military-palestinian-phone-calls-cloud

Microsoft locks down a building after protesters get inside president's office | The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/news/766324/microsoft-building-34-lockdown-protesters-brad-smith-office

Microsoft's employee protests have reached a boiling point | The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/notepad-microsoft-newsletter/766683/microsoft-employee-protests-boiling-point-notepad

Microsoft has had an 'unlimited product supply agreement' with the Israeli Ministry of Defense since around 2002, and in 2021 signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense for Microsoft's cloud and AI services worth approximately 20 billion yen. Because these contracts are commercial, the terms of use include respect for human rights and prohibition of unauthorized use.

However, in the first week of August 2025, several media outlets, including the major British magazine The Guardian, reported that the Israel Defense Forces' intelligence agency, Unit 8200 , was storing large amounts of recorded phone calls of Palestinians on Microsoft's cloud computing service, Azure , and using it for surveillance activities.

According to sources who provided information to The Guardian, Unit 8200 has controlled Palestinian communications infrastructure and has been eavesdropping on calls in the occupied territories for years, but the military's servers lacked the storage space or computing power to handle the calls of the entire population, so they turned to Microsoft. As a result, they are now able to eavesdrop on and manage a wider range of civilian conversations, facilitating the preparation of deadly airstrikes and directing military operations in Gaza and the West Bank, the sources said.

In response to the reports, a Microsoft spokesperson said, 'We are not aware of Azure being used to capture such data (intercepted communications of civilians).' Microsoft also issued an official statement on August 15, 2025, stating, 'To date, we have found no evidence that Microsoft Azure and AI technology have been used to target or harm people in the Gaza conflict.'



Concerns about Microsoft's cloud and AI services contract with Israel have sparked criticism both inside and outside the company, and a protest group called '

No Azure for Apartheid (NoAA)' has formed to collect signatures on a petition opposing the political and military use of Azure in 2024. Members include current and former employees, as well as local residents.

However, after Microsoft refused to accept any of NoAA's demands and The Guardian reported on the matter, NoAA occupied the square in front of Microsoft's headquarters on August 20, 2025 (local time) and conducted protests, including throwing red paint on Microsoft's sign. Below is a photo of protesters in front of the headquarters posted by NoAA's X account.



As a result, 18 people, including a current Microsoft software engineer, were arrested. NoAA accused the police and Microsoft of violent retaliation against the protesters.



Furthermore, on August 26, 2025 local time, a group of protesters broke into the office of Microsoft President Smith and held a sit-in protest. The protesters entered the Microsoft building and Smith's office and held a protest, which was live-streamed on Twitch.

Below is a livestream of the protest in the office, with a message on a monitor on the wall saying, 'Brad Smith to be summoned to the People's Court for crimes against humanity.'



The day after Smith's office was occupied, seven protesters, including two current Microsoft employees, were arrested. A few hours after the office was opened, Smith called reporters to his office and held an emergency press conference. You can watch Smith's press conference in the video below.

Microsoft President Brad Smith speaks after office occupation - YouTube


'The Guardian has been fair in its reporting, but there are some truths and some lies in the story, and much of the content needs to be verified,' Smith said. 'Earlier this month, Microsoft launched a detailed investigation into reports that Azure was being used to surveillance Palestinians. Microsoft is committed to upholding human rights principles and its terms of service in the Middle East.'

Regarding the Microsoft employees who were arrested for participating in the protests, Smith said at a press conference, 'This is not standard employee behavior. We will review whether to impose internal disciplinary action.' Microsoft later released an official statement, stating, 'We have terminated two employees for serious violations of our company policies and code of conduct. These incidents are inconsistent with how we expect our employees to behave. We continue to investigate and are fully cooperating with law enforcement regarding these matters.'

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