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A pro-Palestinian protest by Microsoft employees interrupted the company’s 50th anniversary celebration on Friday, highlighting growing tensions over the tech giant’s collaboration with the Israeli military.
The protest occurred during a live-streamed event at Microsoft’s headquarters, where the company’s AI chief Mustafa Suleyman was presenting updates on its AI assistant product, Copilot, to an audience that included Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and former CEO Steve Ballmer.
The protest began when Ibtihal Aboussad, a Microsoft employee, interrupted Suleyman’s speech, accusing the company of complicity in the ongoing conflict in Gaza. “Mustafa, shame on you,” Aboussad shouted as she approached the stage. “You claim that you care about using AI for good, but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military. Fifty-thousand people have died, and Microsoft powers this genocide in our region.”
Suleyman responded, acknowledging the protester’s concerns. “Thank you for your protest, I hear you,” he said. Aboussad continued her protest, calling out that Suleyman and the company had “blood on their hands.” She threw a keffiyeh scarf, a symbol of Palestinian solidarity, onto the stage before being escorted out of the event.
A second protester, Vaniya Agrawal, disrupted another segment of the celebration where Gates, Ballmer, and current CEO Satya Nadella were on stage.
The gathering marked the first public appearance of the three Microsoft leaders together since 2014. Agrawal echoed similar sentiments, criticizing Microsoft’s ties to the Israeli military’s use of AI in military operations.
