Police Arrest 7 Microsoft Employees Protesting Against Israel's Use of Their Platform in Gaza Attacks

Microsoft headquarters. (Unsplash-Praswin Prakashan)

JAKARTA - Police arrested seven Microsoft employees who were protesting against their company's ties with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the military invasion of Gaza.

According to AP, on Wednesday, August 27, the protesters stated in a statement that those arrested on Tuesday, August 26, were current and former Microsoft employees.

The demonstration was titled "No Azure for Apartheid." Azure is known as Microsoft's primary cloud computing platform. Azure has been accused in British newspapers of being used by Israel to facilitate attacks on Palestinian targets.

Other demands of the demonstration were that Microsoft sever ties with Israel and pay compensation to Palestinians.

To that end, a crowd of current and former Microsoft employees occupied the office of Microsoft President Brad Smith, rejecting his company's cooperation with Israel, which is actively attacking Gaza.

The protesters were seen gathering at the Microsoft President's office and live-streaming on Twitch as officers moved to arrest them. The video also showed another group of protesters gathered outside the protest site.

In a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Smith said two of the arrested protesters were Microsoft employees.

Meanwhile, 18 other protesters were detained during a demonstration raising the same issue that took place at one of Microsoft's corporate office plazas last week.

These demonstrations have been ongoing for months. In May, Microsoft even fired an employee who interrupted CEO Satya Nadella's speech to raise the issue.

This was followed in April 2025 by the firing of two other employees who raised the issue during the company's 50th anniversary celebration.