Doha – A Moroccan engineer working at Microsoft, Ibtihal Aboussad, made international headlines after confronting the company’s AI chief executive during Microsoft’s 50th anniversary celebration over the tech giant’s involvement in Israeli military operations in Gaza.
During a presentation about Microsoft’s AI assistant Copilot on Friday at the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, the Harvard graduate interrupted Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman’s speech, accusing the company of supporting military operations that have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.
“Mustafa, shame on you,” Aboussad declared while approaching 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.”
The protest came in the wake of an Associated Press investigation last February that revealed Microsoft and OpenAI’s artificial intelligence models were being used in Israeli military programs to select bombing targets in Gaza and Lebanon.
The investigation detailed a tragic incident where an errant Israeli airstrike in 2023 killed three young girls and their grandmother in Lebanon.
Similarly, another investigation by Israeli newspaper +972 Magazine in January disclosed Microsoft’s extensive military involvement, with leaked Defense Ministry documents showing the company had “a footprint in all major military infrastructures” in Israel, while its AI and cloud services usage by the Israeli army increased 64-fold post-October.
Before being escorted out of the event, which was being livestreamed, Aboussad threw a keffiyeh scarf – a symbol of Palestinian solidarity – onto the stage, declaring that Suleyman and “all of Microsoft” had “blood on their hands.”
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Suleyman responded to the protest, saying: “Thank you for your protest, I hear you.”
A second Microsoft employee, Vaniya Agrawal, later interrupted another segment of the celebration featuring Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, current CEO Satya Nadella, and former CEO Steve Ballmer – their first public appearance together since 2014.
The protest marks an escalation in internal dissent at Microsoft. In February, five employees were ejected from a meeting with CEO Nadella for protesting the same military contracts.
Following Friday’s protest, both Aboussad and Agrawal lost access to their work accounts, potentially indicating their termination, according to Associated Press reports.
Microsoft issued a statement saying, “We provide many avenues for all voices to be heard… Importantly, we ask that this be done in a way that does not cause a business disruption. If that happens, we ask participants to relocate. We are committed to ensuring our business practices uphold the highest standards.”
Israel shattered the January ceasefire with a surprise aerial campaign on March 18, killing 1,249 Palestinians and wounding 3,022. Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Gallant face ICC arrest warrants for war crimes, while Israel faces genocide charges at the ICJ.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, Israel’s genocidal campaign has resulted in at least 50,609 confirmed Palestinian deaths and 115,063 wounded. The Gaza Government Media Office has updated its death toll to more than 61,700, including thousands presumed dead under rubble.
The protest adds to growing demonstrations at various firms and educational institutions over their ties with Israel amid the mounting humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, where nearly the entire 2.3 million population has been internally displaced and faces severe food shortages.
