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A Microsoft engineer interrupted CEO Satya Nadella’s keynote at the company’s Build developer conference in Seattle, accusing the tech giant of aiding Israel’s military campaign in Gaza
through its Azure cloud platform. Joe Lopez, a firmware engineer with Microsoft’s Azure Hardware Systems team, shouted “Free Palestine” and accused the company of enabling Israeli war crimes
before being escorted from the venue. The incident occurred just minutes into Nadella’s keynote, which was also joined virtually by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Lopez later sent a mass internal
email to Microsoft employees, accusing the company of complicity in Israel’s alleged targeting of civilians. “Every byte of data stored on Azure can and will be used as justification to
level cities and exterminate Palestinians,” he wrote. Lopez cited Microsoft’s commercial relationship with the Israeli Ministry of Defense and criticised the company’s internal audit, which
found “no evidence” of harm, as lacking transparency. The protest was organised by the worker-led group No Azure for Apartheid, which is calling for Microsoft to cut ties with the Israeli
government. The group claims Microsoft’s technology is used for mass surveillance and to support Israeli military operations. This was not an isolated event. Last month, two former Microsoft
employees disrupted the company’s 50th anniversary celebrations by accusing executives of profiting from war. Both were later fired. On Monday, dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators
rallied outside the Seattle Convention Center, where Build is being held. Police clashed with protesters as they attempted to breach the venue, with at least one person arrested and pepper
spray deployed. Microsoft has maintained that it operates under standard commercial agreements and has “no visibility” into how its technologies are deployed by Israel once sold. But critics
argue this lack of oversight is itself part of the problem. The company has yet to comment on Lopez’s protest. His employment status remains unclear. The Build conference continues this
week, drawing thousands of developers and tech professionals from around the globe.