Amazon Suspends Employee Over Protest of Israel Work

Amazon has suspended a software engineer after the employee publicly criticized the company’s business ties with the Israeli government, CNBC has learned. The move highlights the increasingly fraught intersection of tech, corporate responsibility, and geopolitical conflict.

Ahmed Shahrour, a Seattle-based engineer working within Amazon’s Whole Foods Market division, was placed on paid suspension “until further notice” following internal Slack messages that voiced strong objections to Amazon’s involvement with Israel. According to a message from Amazon human resources reviewed by CNBC, the company is investigating potential policy violations arising from the posts.

Prior to the suspension, Shahrour had circulated a letter to Amazon executives, including CEO Andy Jassy, expressing deep concerns over Project Nimbus, the $1.2 billion cloud computing contract awarded jointly to Amazon and Google by the Israeli government in 2021. This project provides Israel with advanced technological infrastructure, including artificial intelligence tools and data centers.

“Every day I write code at Whole Foods, I remember my brothers and sisters in Gaza being starved by Israel’s man-made blockade,” Shahrour wrote. “I live in a state of constant dissonance: maintaining the tools that make this company profit, while my people are burned and starved with the help of that very profit. I am left with no choice but to resist directly.”

Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser offered a general statement in response to inquiries, stating, “We don’t tolerate discrimination, harassment, or threatening behavior or language of any kind in our workplace, and when any conduct of that nature is reported, we investigate it and take appropriate action based on our findings.” The company declined to comment specifically on Shahrour’s case or its policies regarding employee expression on internal channels.

The suspension comes amid growing scrutiny of Big Tech’s relationship with Israel. Employees at Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Palantir, and other major tech firms have become more vocal in opposing their companies’ dealings with the Israeli military and government. These concerns often center around ethical considerations related to the use of technology in conflict zones and potential human rights implications.

This isn’t an isolated incident. Microsoft recently terminated two employees for protesting inside the company’s headquarters against its work with the Israeli military. Earlier this year, Google fired 28 employees following protests against its labor practices and involvement in Project Nimbus. The increased activism has prompted some tech companies to increase security measures at internal events and conferences.

The Project Nimbus contract, in particular, has drawn criticism due to its potential to enhance the Israeli government’s surveillance capabilities and military operations. While Amazon has broadly stated that it provides technology to customers “wherever they are located,” without specifically mentioning Nimbus, Google has stated that it provides generally available cloud computing services that are not directed at highly sensitive, classified or military workloads. Microsoft has said that its work with the Israel Defense Forces primarily focuses on cybersecurity.

Shahrour alleges that, following his suspension, Amazon revoked his access to company email and internal tools and removed his Slack posts. He claims Amazon did not specify which policies his posts violated, adding that the company is creating a climate of fear for employees who want to express solidarity with Palestine.

He further alleges that Amazon has selectively enforced its content moderation policies, deleting pro-Palestinian posts in the “Arabs at Amazon” Slack channel while allowing posts disparaging Palestinians to remain. CNBC independently confirmed the account of another incident where Amazon issued a warning to an engineer for sharing an article about American doctors volunteering in Gaza, and a separate case of firing an employee in France for anti-Israel statements on social media.

Earlier in the year, Microsoft faced criticism when employees reported that the company blocked Outlook emails containing terms like “Palestine,” “Gaza,” “genocide,” and “apartheid,” while emails containing the word “Israel” were not similarly restricted. Microsoft claimed it was attempting to curtail the spread of unsolicited mass emails.

The situation at Amazon reflects a broader tension within the tech industry regarding freedom of speech, corporate values, and the ethical implications of technology partnerships with governments facing allegations of human rights abuses. As these issues become increasingly prominent, tech companies will need to navigate complex challenges to balance employee expression with business interests and stakeholder concerns.