Microsoft employees are circulating a petition demanding that the company stop donating to the Ma’aleh Adumim Foundation, Ein Prat Academy for Leadership, and Megilot Dead Sea Rescue Team.
Microsoft is directly funding these illegal and immoral settlements by allowing these organisations to remain.
Company officials state that these organisations “are in direct violation of international law.”
This is not only unethical, but also goes against our inclusive values as a company.
Microsoft’s charitable donation platform features organisations based in illegal Israeli settlements, including one that supports the Israeli army. Meanwhile, the platform removes the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which sparked an internal employee petition demanding policy changes.
Recently, Microsoft employees circulated a petition demanding that the company cease related donations to the Maaleh Adumim Foundation, the Ein Prat Leadership Academy and the Megilot Dead Sea Rescue Team, arguing that these organisations “directly violate international law” under the Geneva Conventions.
The Ma’aleh Adumim Foundation aims to “promote and improve the cultural and social welfare of the residents of the city of Ma’aleh Adumim, Israel and its environs,” according to its documents. Another organisation that Microsoft supports through donations is the Ein Prat Academy, which describes itself as a “pre-military leadership” programme for Israeli youth. It is the sole pre-military institution with a formal agreement with the IDF.”
Hossam Nasr, a software engineer at Microsoft, stated:
Microsoft has aided, abetted, and even accelerated this genocide by continuing to sell (Microsoft’s cloud computing platform) Azure services to the Israeli military, while disregarding and suppressing internal employee dissent and silencing Palestinian, Arab, and pro-Palestinian employees.
