Microsoft's President, Brad Smith, confirmed on Tuesday that his executive office at the company's Redmond headquarters was stormed by anti-Israel activists who planted listening devices and had previously attempted to acquire the building's floor plans.
Smith described this as an unprecedented violation of corporate security.
"Clearly, when seven individuals behave as they did today, storming a building, occupying an office, locking others out of the office, planting listening devices, even in a rudimentary form such as telephones or cell phones hidden under couches and behind books, that's unacceptable," Smith informed the press.
He added, "When they're asked to leave and they refuse, that's not acceptable. That's why the Redmond police had to physically remove them from the building."
According to The Post Millennial, Smith revealed that Microsoft had prior knowledge of a potential attempt to infiltrate Building 34, which houses top executives, including himself. "We received a report yesterday afternoon from an employee that someone from the activist group No Azure for Apartheid was calling around and seeking a floor plan of this floor," Smith stated.
"So obviously one way or another, they figured out how to get in. We'll adapt our security accordingly. We obviously need to keep our facilities safe and secure."
During a press conference, Smith announced that seven protesters were arrested after they barricaded themselves inside his office. Among them were two current Microsoft employees and a former Google worker.
The activists, from the radical group No Azure For Apartheid, "renamed" the building the "Mai Ubeid Building," in reference to a Palestinian software engineer killed in Gaza. They released balloons with noisemakers into the atrium, unfurled banners listing demands, and delivered a "symbolic summons" accusing Smith of human rights violations.
Their demands included severing ties with Israel, calling for an end to the "genocide and forced starvation," paying "reparations to the Palestinians," and ending "discrimination against workers."
However, Smith emphasized the distinction between lawful protest and criminal behavior. "We respect the freedom of expression that everyone in this country enjoys, as long as they do it lawfully. But if people engage in vandalism, if they storm buildings, if they occupy offices, if they create threats to others, that's different. And I dont think thats a profound principle. Thats just common sense.
The sit-in was part of ongoing protests at Microsofts campus against the tech company's business dealings with Israel. On Wednesday, activists escalated to vandalism, pouring paint over a Microsoft sign, blocking a pedestrian bridge, and attempting to build barricades with stolen tables and chairs.
Police reported that protesters resisted officers and "became aggressive."
A Microsoft spokesperson emphasized that most of those arrested had no ties to the company, despite their claims. Of the 20 people arrested during yesterdays incident, only one is a current Microsoft employee, and only three are former employees previously terminated for similar conduct. Almost all of those arrested yesterday, including some carrying fake company ID cards, have never worked at Microsoft.
Microsoft has frequently been targeted by anti-Israel and anti-war activists due to its significant contracts with the US Department of Defense and intelligence agencies. The company provides cloud, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence services to the Pentagon, including through its multibillion-dollar Azure Government platform.
Smith acknowledged that much of Microsofts work in Israel is centered on cybersecurity operations linked to the Israeli military and its coordination with other U.S.-allied governments in the Middle East. Activists argue that these capabilities make Microsoft complicit in military operations in Gaza.
Smith emphasized that Microsoft remains committed to maintaining dialogue with employees across backgrounds, including groups representing Jewish staff, Palestinian allies, and Middle East and North Africa workers, while protecting the integrity of its operations. This company was built and stands today on a culture of trust with our employees, of open dialogue with our employees. That matters deeply, Smith said. We read what they say, we meet with them, and we will sustain that kind of dialogue. It is literally the life blood of this company.
However, he highlighted that Microsoft is not a government, its a company, and its role is to uphold contractual obligations, including those with the US military, and human rights standards, while ensuring the safety of employees.
We need to keep our workplace safe and secure, Smith said. We need to keep our employees secure while we honor the freedom of expression that is a hallmark of this country. Thats our job. Well do our job well.
Earlier in the day, Bloomberg News reported that Microsoft had asked the FBI and local police to help track and contain individuals who showed up over the weekend on kayaks in front of the Lake Washington homes of the tech giants CEO Satya Nadella and Smith.
A director of investigations reportedly told the bureau, One of our former employees in particular, Hossam Nasr, has been quite active in his posts targeting Microsoft and that we are complicit in genocide.
Hossam Nasr (Mabed) is a prominent figure in Seattle's pro-Hamas movement. He was fired last October after leading a protest on campus which resulted in vandalism. He has repeatedly referred to his former employer as an evil Zionist corporation facilitating and empowering a genocide.
Nasr has a long record of radical activism. Microsoft insiders told The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI that he was notorious for antisemitic vitriol and was the subject of internal investigations.
Last year, he was arrested for disrupting a University of Washington (UW) Board of Regents meeting discussing campus antisemitism. Jewish students, faculty, and board members had to be escorted out after anti-Israel activists led by Nasr seized control of the room.
In May, witnesses spotted Nasr on the UW campus tipping over a dumpster and setting it on fire the night antisemitic radicals and antifa militants caused over $1 million in damage to the university's new engineering building that was sponsored in part by Boeing.
Nasr boasted to local media about his participation in local protests which included shutting down the light rail and the violent antisemitic Gaza camp at UW. Nasrs social media has featured a photo of a U.S. flag being burned at a pro-Hamas event, and wrote, the flag represented death, murder, destruction genocide and beheaded babies.
He wrote: Death to the U.S. empire and its killing machine. Free Palestine from the river to the sea, a call for the genocide of everyone living in Israel. Before moving to Seattle, Nasr co-founded Harvard Alumni for Palestine and served as co-president of Harvards Palestine Solidarity Committee, part of the antisemitic Boycott, Divest, Sanction (BDS) movement.
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