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Hundreds of Amazon and Google employees ask their companies to end military contract with Israel

WION Web Team
California, United StatesUpdated: Oct 14, 2021, 11:33 AM IST
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A picture shows an Israel military drill near Kibbutz Merom Golan in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights Photograph:(AFP)

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Project Nimbus, a contract to provide cloud services to the government and military of Israel, allows the surveillance and collection of data about Palestinians

Nearly 400 employees of e-commerce company Amazon and tech giant Google have asked their companies to scrap a military contract worth $1.2 billion with Israel.

They have written an open letter to their respective companies in a bid to seek the end of Project Nimbus.

Project Nimbus, a contract to provide cloud services to the government and military of Israel, allows the surveillance and collection of data about Palestinians. It was signed amid the conflict on the Gaza strip.

The letter states, ''We cannot look the other way, as the products we build are used to deny Palestinians their basic rights, force Palestinians out of their homes and attack Palestinians in the Gaza Strip - actions that have prompted war crime investigations by the international criminal court.''

The employees have talked about the supremacy of privacy and a vision for a better and safer future. 

''To build that brighter future, the companies we work for need to stop contracting with any and all militarized organizations in the US and beyond. These contracts harm the communities of technology workers and users alike. While we publicly promise to uplift and assist our users, contracts such as these secretly facilitate the surveillance and targeting of those same users.''

Both the companies are already facing backlash over their deals with Customs and Border Protection as well as the Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Amazon employees had previously written a letter to founder Jeff Bezos asking him to support Palestinians and cut ties with Israeli Defense Forces.