2 Billion Cloud Contract with Israel

Several Google employees were arrested and subsequently placed on administrative leave after staging sit-ins at offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California, to protest the company's $1.2 billion cloud contract with Israel. The protests, led by pro-Palestinian employees affiliated with a group called No Tech For Apartheid, lasted for approximately 10 hours and resulted in a total of nine arrests.

The demonstrators, who posted videos and livestreams of the protests, expressed their opposition to the cloud contract, alleging that the technology provided by Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services was potentially being used by the Israeli government and military against Palestinians in Gaza. The protesters demanded that Google withdraw from the controversial "Project Nimbus" contract.

During the protest in Sunnyvale, an office belonging to Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian was occupied by demonstrators wearing traditional Arab headscarves. The occupation of the office was part of the employees' efforts to raise awareness and draw attention to their cause.

Google spokespersons confirmed that the employees involved in the protests had been put on administrative leave and their access to company systems had been terminated. The spokespersons asserted that the sit-ins violated company policies and disrupted the work environment, prompting the involvement of law enforcement to ensure office safety.

The protests on Tuesday involved approximately 50 participants in New York and around 80 in Sunnyvale. Local authorities made a total of four arrests for trespassing inside the Google building in New York and five arrests for criminal trespassing in Sunnyvale. The exact nature of the disciplinary actions faced by the participating employees is yet to be disclosed.

This incident comes amidst ongoing unrest among Google employees regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict. Last month, a software engineer was fired from the company for publicly criticizing an Israel-based executive during a tech conference in New York City. Activists within the company have increasingly voiced their opposition to the cloud contract in recent months, particularly in light of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

The No Tech For Apartheid group has been at the forefront of challenging Google's involvement in the Project Nimbus contract. As of now, representatives for the protesters have not yet commented on the recent arrests.