Protests in Paris, Athens and Chicago against Israel’s war on Gaza
People gather near the Egyptian embassy in Paris, France, on Thursday to protest against Israel’s war on Gaza and to urge Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to facilitate the passage of humanitarian aid trucks into Gaza
People take part in a demonstration against Israel’s war on Gaza, outside the Israeli embassy, in Athens, Greece, on Thursday
Protesters hold signs and Palestinian flags in front of the Israeli consulate in Chicago, Illinois, the United States, on Thursday
Microsoft fires employee for pro-Palestine protest at Build conference
As we previously reported, pro-Palestine protesters interrupted Microsoft’s annual Build developer conference in Seattle this week over the company’s provision of Artificial Intelligence (AI) services to the Israeli military.
The tech giant has now confirmed that it has fired one employee, named as Joe Lopez, who shouted at Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella during a speech he was giving on Monday.
Security escorted the software engineer out of the room as he shouted that he refused “to be complicit in this genocide”.
Lopez later sent an email to colleagues challenging Microsoft’s claims about how its Azure cloud computing platform is being used during Israel’s war on Gaza.
The Israeli military has been assisted by AI programs designed to produce targets with little human oversight. It is not clear to what extent foreign tech giants are directly involved.
Demonstrators march in support of Palestinians in Gaza near the Microsoft Build conference in Seattle, Washington, on May 21
