A conference hosted by Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) was disrupted by protesters demanding the termination of a $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli government. The e-commerce giant shares the contract with Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) subsidiary Google.
What Happened: The protest took place during a conference organized by Amazon’s cloud division, Amazon Web Services, in Washington on Wednesday, reported Bloomberg.
The protesters accused Amazon of complicity in the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza, where it is engaged in a conflict with Hamas, a designated terrorist organization by the U.S. and EU.
The Israeli government’s Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion program shared by Amazon and Google, aims to transition the country’s government and military technology infrastructure to cloud-computing services. The protesters, who were escorted out of the event, are part of a coalition called No Tech For Apartheid, which opposes the deal.
In April 2024, Google terminated 28 employees who participated in sit-in protests at its New York and California offices, which were against Google’s involvement in Project Nimbus.
Why It Matters: This incident is the latest in a series of protests and calls for divestment from companies involved in Israel.
Earlier this year, in April, students across the U.S. were arrested for demanding their universities to sell off Israel-related stocks. The protests turned violent in May as the U.S. government negotiated a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.
Previously, in January, Nancy Pelosi called for an FBI investigation into the protests, suggesting possible Russian involvement. “I think some of these — some of these protesters are spontaneous and organic and sincere. Some, I think, are connected to Russia, and I say that having looked at this for a long time now,” she stated at the time.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
