Google and Amazon, the leading tech giants, are facing backlash from their hundreds of employees for signing a contract worth $1.2 billion to provide cloud services to the Israeli military and government.
Hundreds of employees of the two companies have signed an open letter to condemn what is dubbed as Project Nimbus. The letter was published by an international media outlet.
“We are writing as Google and Amazon employees of conscience from diverse backgrounds. We believe that the technology we build should work to serve and uplift people everywhere, including all of our users. As workers who keep these companies running, we are morally obligated to speak out against violations of these core values. For this reason, we are compelled to call on the leaders of Amazon and Google to pull out of Project Nimbus and cut all ties with the Israeli military. So far, more than 90 workers at Google and more than 300 at Amazon have signed this letter internally. We are anonymous because we fear retaliation,” the Guardian quoted the letter as saying.
“We have watched Google and Amazon aggressively pursue contracts with institutions like the US Department of Defense, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), and state and local police departments. These contracts are part of a disturbing pattern of militarization, lack of transparency and avoidance of oversight.
“Continuing this pattern, our employers signed a contract called Project Nimbus to sell dangerous technology to the Israeli military and government.
“This technology allows for further surveillance of and unlawful data collection on Palestinians, and facilitates expansion of Israel’s illegal settlements on Palestinian land,” the letter stated.
“We cannot look the other way, as the products we build are used to deny Palestinians their basic rights, force Palestinians out of their homes and attack Palestinians in the Gaza Strip – actions that have prompted war crime investigations by the international criminal court.”
Tuesday’s open letter noted that the Project Nimbus contract was signed during a week when the Israeli military reportedly killed hundreds of Palestinians, including 66 Palestinian children, in Gaza.
“The technology our companies have contracted to build will make the systematic discrimination and displacement carried out by the Israeli military and government even crueler and deadlier for Palestinians,” the letter said.
