On Tuesday, some Google employees were arrested for protesting against the company’s involvement with Israel. The arrests took place in multiple locations, including the New York City and Sunnyvale California offices. This protest comes at a time of increased tensions between Israel and Iran.
It’s not the first time Google employees have protested against the company’s collaboration with the Israeli government on certain projects. According to a report from The Washington Post, nine employees were arrested at both locations, as confirmed by Jane Chung, a spokesperson for the protesters. Some NYPD officers warned the protesters that they would be arrested if they didn’t leave.
A Google spokesperson named Bailey Tomson stated that the protesting employees were put on administrative leave and had their access to Google’s systems cut off. The protesters were demanding that Google withdraw from a $1.2 billion contract, known as Nimbus, with Amazon, which involves providing cloud services and data centers to the Israeli government.
Some of the protesters were well aware that their actions could result in losing their jobs. Zelda Montes, a software engineer at Google’s YouTube, acknowledged that she might be removed from her position because of her participation in the protest. Montes expressed, “We often have the privilege of ignoring the impact of our work on the world. I’ve been waiting for months for others to be in the same position as me and be willing to risk their jobs.”
The protests have been growing over the past seven months due to the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip. In early March, Google fired an employee who protested during a speech by a top Google executive in Israel.
The contract being protested was signed with the entire Israeli government. Some tech employees raised concerns that their work could be used for military purposes, as the contract stipulated that services couldn’t be denied to specific parts of the Israeli government. Last week, Time Magazine reported that Google has been in discussions with Israel’s Defense Ministry. Amazon employees also participated in rallies on Tuesday, opposing the contract with Israel.
What is Project Nimbus?
Project Nimbus is a cloud computing project initiated by the Israeli government and its military. The goal of the project is to provide a comprehensive cloud solution to the government, the defense establishment, and other entities in Israel. The project involves the establishment of local cloud sites to ensure that information remains within Israel’s borders and is protected by strict security measures.
The project consists of four planned phases. The first phase involves the purchase and construction of the necessary cloud infrastructure. The second phase focuses on developing government policies for migrating operations to the cloud. In the third phase, operations are transitioned to the cloud environment. Finally, the fourth phase focuses on implementing and optimizing cloud operations.
To fulfill this project, the Israeli government has signed a $1.2 billion contract with technology companies Google (Google Cloud Platform) and Amazon (Amazon Web Services). These companies will provide cloud computing services, including artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities, to various Israeli government agencies.