Amazon Terminates Employee Who Criticized Company's $1.2 Billion Deal With Israel

Amazon has terminated a software engineer who publicly challenged the company's $1.2 billion contract with Israel, confirming the decision on Monday.

The engineer, Ahmed Shahrour, had been suspended in September after criticizing Amazon's involvement with Project Nimbus.

Shahrour worked in Amazon's Whole Foods division in Seattle. He received an email notifying him of the termination, with human resources stating, "you will receive an email ... with detailed information about your termination, including ... final pay." The message added that Amazon appreciated his contributions.

Amazon says that Shahrour violated internal policies, including their standards of conduct and acceptable use policies.

They accused him of "misusing company resources" by posting "non‑work-related messages pertaining to the Israel‑Palestine conflict."

An employee group tied to Shahrour issued a press release saying his firing followed a five‑week suspension for protesting the $1.2 billion Project Nimbus contract with Israel.

According to CNBC, the group said Shahrour viewed the deal as "collaboration in the ongoing genocide in Gaza."

Shahrour had urged Amazon to drop the contract, which involves supplying the Israeli government with cloud and AI infrastructure.

He also handed out flyers and protested at Amazon's downtown Seattle headquarters.

In a statement, he called his dismissal "a blatant act of retaliation ... to silence dissent from Palestinian voices within Amazon."

Amazon Defends Firing Engineer Over Israel Protest

Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser defended the decision, telling CNBC: "We don't tolerate discrimination, harassment or threatening behavior or language of any kind ... and when any conduct of that nature is reported, we investigate it and take appropriate action based on our findings."

Shahrour's termination comes as global attention focuses on Project Nimbus—the shared cloud computing contract by Amazon and Google with Israel, BS reported.

Critics say the deal may enable military applications, while supporters argue it involves standard government tech needs.

His firing also coincides with events in the region: Palestinian militant group Hamas released several Israeli hostages today, marking a first phase of a ceasefire agreement.

This case is part of a larger trend in the tech industry of employees protesting company contracts with governments.

Microsoft recently saw an engineer resign over similar concerns, and Google terminated dozens of employees involved in Project Nimbus protests earlier.

The Amazon contract has not been widely commented on by the company beyond saying it delivers technology "wherever customers are located."

Meanwhile, Google says its services for Israel are commercial and not meant for highly classified or military tasks.

Originally published on vcpost.com