Google Workers Step Up Protests of $1.2 Billion Israeli Contract
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Google employees are ratcheting up pressure on the internet-search giant to abandon its artificial intelligence work with the Israeli government, planning public demonstrations to draw greater attention to the controversial cloud-computing contract.

A multiethnic, multireligious group of Google employees have gone public with a week of protest actions the company’s Project Nimbus contract with Amazon Web Services and the Israel Defense Forces, set to culminate in a multi-city demonstration.

They hope to pressure the corporate giant into dropping the mammoth $1.2bn contract on moral grounds, arguing that by allowing Israel access to its most sophisticated machine learning and AI technology, Google is enabling crimes against the occupied Palestinian population.

Google manager Ariel Koren announced her resignation on Tuesday after “a pattern of hostility and retaliation” from management, claiming she was presented with an ultimatum – move to Google’s Brazil office or quit – over her efforts lobbying against the project.

A Google spokeswoman dismissed Koren’s claims regarding retaliation by management, explaining they had been “thoroughly investigated” and found baseless.

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