Microsoft veteran resigns over company's Israel ties amid Gaza war
What's the story
Scott Sutfin-Glowski, a principal software engineer at Microsoft, has announced his resignation after 13 years with the tech giant. He accused the company of continuing to sell cloud services to the Israeli military and remaining silent on the ongoing Gaza war. In his farewell letter, Sutfin-Glowski expressed his inability to accept "enabling what may be the worst atrocities of our time."
Subscription concerns
Internal dissent over Israeli military contracts
Sutfin-Glowski also highlighted an Associated Press report from February, which revealed that the Israeli military held at least 635 Microsoft subscriptions, most of which he claimed are still active. The news comes amid growing internal dissent within Microsoft over its cloud contracts with the Israeli military. Several employees have protested against these agreements, and five have been dismissed in recent months, though the reasons for these dismissals were not specified.
Company stance
Microsoft's response to Sutfin-Glowski's resignation
Microsoft has not commented on Sutfin-Glowski's resignation. However, the company did say in September that it had stopped providing certain services to a division of Israel's Ministry of Defense after allegations surfaced that surveillance tools were being used to track Palestinians. The move came amid growing pressure from both activists and employees.
External pressure
Activists and employees unite against Microsoft's Israel ties
Outside Microsoft's Redmond headquarters, activists from the group "No Azure for Apartheid" joined employees in calling on the firm to cut all ties with Israel. Sutfin-Glowski said internal communication channels to raise such concerns had been shut down. The incident suggests a growing divide between corporate practices and employee values amid global conflicts.