ANAMBRA POLICE ACTION ON THE CULT CLASH THAT RESULTED IN THE FATAL INJURY OF FOUR PERSONS AT AFOR NAWFIA MARKET. (PHOTO). #PRESS RELEASE
Amazon suspends engineer over protest of work with Israeli government
Amazon has suspended a software engineer after he protested the company’s work with the Israeli government.
Ahmed Shahrour, a Palestinian engineer based in Seattle who works for Amazon’s Whole Foods division, was informed Monday that he was being suspended with pay “until further notice” after posting messages on internal Slack channels criticizing the company’s ties to Israel.
An Amazon human resources representative told Shahrour that his posts “may violate multiple policies” and said the company was investigating the matter. Shahrour had also sent a letter to Amazon executives, including CEO Andy Jassy, urging the company to end Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud computing contract with the Israeli government that provides AI tools, data centers, and other infrastructure.
“Every day I write code at Whole Foods, I remember my brothers and sisters in Gaza being starved by Israel’s man-made blockade,” Shahrour wrote in the letter. “I live in a state of constant dissonance: maintaining the tools that make this company profit, while my people are burned and starved with the help of that very profit. I am left with no choice but to resist directly.”
Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser said the company does not tolerate “discrimination, harassment, or threatening behavior or language of any kind” and investigates reported conduct, taking action based on findings. The company did not comment on the contract with Israel or policies for moderating internal employee posts.
As part of the suspension, Shahrour’s access to company email and tools was revoked, and his Slack posts were removed. He said Amazon did not specify which policies he had violated. The letter also claims Amazon has taken steps to “silence” pro-Palestinian employees, citing warnings and past terminations. Posts discussing Gaza in the “Arabs at Amazon” Slack channel have been deleted, while other posts critical of Palestinians remain.
Shahrour’s suspension follows a broader trend of tech workers at companies including Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Palantir speaking out against corporate involvement with the Israeli military. Previous incidents have included protests at company headquarters, employee terminations, and tighter security at conferences after an uptick in employee activism.
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