Microsoft employee protests lead to 18 arrests as company reviews its
work with Israel's military
[August 21, 2025] By
MATT O'BRIEN and MICHAEL BIESECKER
Police officers arrested 18 people at worker-led protests at Microsoft
headquarters Wednesday as the tech company promises an “urgent” review
of the Israeli military's use of its technology during the ongoing war
in Gaza.
Two consecutive days of protest at the Microsoft campus in Redmond,
Washington called for the tech giant to immediately cut its business
ties with Israel.
But unlike Tuesday, when about 35 protesters occupying a plaza between
office buildings left after Microsoft asked them to leave, the
protesters on Wednesday “resisted and became aggressive” after the
company told police they were trespassing, according to the Redmond
Police Department.
The protesters also splattered red paint resembling the color of blood
over a landmark sign that bears the company logo and spells Microsoft in
big gray letters.
“We said, ‘Please leave or you will be arrested,’ and they chose not to
leave so they were detained,” said police spokesperson Jill Green.
Microsoft late last week said it was tapping a law firm to investigate
allegations reported by British newspaper The Guardian that the Israeli
Defense Forces used Microsoft's Azure cloud computing platform to store
phone call data obtained through the mass surveillance of Palestinians
in Gaza and the West Bank.
“Microsoft’s standard terms of service prohibit this type of usage," the
company said in a statement posted Friday, adding that the report raises
“precise allegations that merit a full and urgent review.”
In February, The Associated Press revealed previously unreported details
about the tech giant’s close partnership with the Israeli Ministry of
Defense, with military use of commercial artificial intelligence
products skyrocketing by nearly 200 times after the deadly Oct. 7, 2023,
Hamas attack. The AP reported that the Israeli military uses Azure to
transcribe, translate and process intelligence gathered through mass
surveillance, which can then be cross-checked with Israel’s in-house
AI-enabled targeting systems.
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 Following The AP's report, Microsoft
acknowledged the military applications but said a review it
commissioned found no evidence that its Azure platform and
artificial intelligence technologies were used to target or harm
people in Gaza. Microsoft did not share a copy of that review or say
who conducted it.
Microsoft said it will share the latest review's findings after it's
completed by law firm Covington & Burling.
The promise of a second review was insufficient for the employee-led
No Azure for Apartheid group, which for months has protested
Microsoft’s supplying the Israeli military with technology used for
its war against Hamas in Gaza. The group said Wednesday the
technology is “being used to surveil, starve and kill Palestinians.”
Microsoft in May fired an employee who interrupted a speech by CEO
Satya Nadella to protest the contracts, and in April, fired two
others who interrupted the company's 50th anniversary celebration.
On Tuesday, the protesters posted online a call for what they called
a “worker intifada,” using language evoking the Palestinian
uprisings against Israeli military occupation that began in 1987.
On Wednesday, the police department said it took 18 people into
custody “for multiple charges, including trespassing, malicious
mischief, resisting arrest, and obstruction.” It wasn't clear how
many were Microsoft employees. No injuries were reported.
Microsoft said in a statement after the arrests that it "will
continue to do the hard work needed to uphold its human rights
standards in the Middle East, while supporting and taking clear
steps to address unlawful actions that damage property, disrupt
business or that threaten and harm others.”
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