Several employees from Google, the American multinational corporation, were apprehended at different sites during an anti-Israel demonstration, including the company’s offices in New York City and Sunnyvale, California.
The protest aimed at denouncing Google’s collaboration with Israel, with nine employees reportedly arrested at confirmed locations, as disclosed by spokesperson Jane Chung to The Washington Post.
During the demonstration, officers from the New York City Police Department (NYPD) warned the protesters of potential arrest if they refused to disperse. Meanwhile, Google’s representative, Bailey Tomson, confirmed that the protesting employees have been placed on administrative leave, with their access to Google’s systems revoked.
The demonstrators advocated for Google to terminate its $1.2 billion contract, dubbed Nimbus, with Amazon, which involves providing cloud services and data centers to the Israeli government. Some protesters were cognizant of the risk of losing their jobs due to their participation in the protest.
One protester, Zelda Montes, a software engineer at Google’s YouTube, acknowledged the potential consequence of losing her job, stating, “We often have the privilege of looking the other way and not having to consider 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 willing to risk their jobs.”
The demonstrations have gained momentum over the past seven months amidst the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip. In a previous incident in early March, Google terminated an employee who protested during a speech by a senior executive in Israel.
The contentious contract was signed with the Israeli government as a whole, raising concerns among some tech employees regarding the potential military applications of their work, as the contract prohibits the denial of services to specific sectors of the Israeli government.
