At Microsoft's offices, an Indian-American software engineer approached the company's CEOs, Satya Nadella, Steve Ballmer, and Bill Gates, accusing them of exploiting the company's technology to support "genocide in Gaza." "Shame on you all. You’re all hypocrites,” she shouted as she was led out of the hall, and several of the staff members present for the 50th anniversary celebration began jeering.
Vaniya Agrawal, a Microsoft employee, said that Microsoft technology had been used to kill 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza while three of the company's most prominent faces stared in awe. “50,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been murdered with Microsoft technology. How dare you. Shame on all of you for celebrating in their blood. Cut ties with Israel.” Bill Gates smiled casually after Vaniya was shown the door, before carrying on with the conversation. "Satya has this ability to care as much as we did, but with more teamwork. I think Steve and I almost cared too much, and our life was company," he continued.
After the altercation, Vaniya delivered a harsh letter of resignation, announcing that she would be leaving the company on April 11. She declared that she could no longer support a group that gives power to "oppressors" rather than the oppressed.
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Vaniya accused Microsoft of being "complicit" in Israel's military attack against Gaza in a long letter. She wrote in the letter that was accessed by The Verge, “Microsoft cloud and AI enable the Israeli military to be more lethal and destructive in Gaza. It is undeniable that Microsoft’s Azure cloud offerings and AI developments form the technological backbone of Israel’s automated apartheid and genocide systems. All this begs the question, which “people” are we empowering with our technology? The oppressors enforcing an apartheid regime? The war criminals committing a genocide? Unfortunately, at this point, it’s irrefutable that Microsoft is complicit - they are a digital weapons manufacturer that powers surveillance, apartheid, and genocide. And by working for this company, we are all complicit.”
Ibtihal Aboussad, another employee, referred to Microsoft's AI CEO, Mustafa Suleyman, as "a war profiteer," causing the second disruption of the day.