In a recent turn of events, a Google engineer was terminated from the company after publicly protesting against a talk given by the head of Google Israel, Barak Regev. The incident occurred during a presentation at Mind the Tech, an Israeli tech conference held in New York City.

The employee, identified as a software engineer, voiced their refusal to develop technology that supports genocide, apartheid, or surveillance. Videos of the event captured the worker shouting their protest, prompting Google to confirm the termination in a statement to CNBC.

Google stated that the employee's disruptive behavior during the company-sponsored event violated company policies, leading to their termination. The tech giant emphasized that such behavior is unacceptable regardless of the issue at hand. Commenting on the matter, Google did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for additional comments.

The protest centered around a $1.2 billion cloud-computing contract, known as Project Nimbus, between Google, Amazon, and the Israeli government. Concerns were raised that the contract could potentially be utilized by Israel to support military activities. Google executives, however, insisted that the contract is not intended for military purposes.

The dismissed employee argued that Project Nimbus poses a threat to Palestinian community members. Their protest was not an isolated incident, as over 100 people, including Google workers, had previously demonstrated against the project outside Google's New York office, following the resignation of another employee, Ariel Koren, who had also criticized Project Nimbus.

Further dissent was observed as Google workers flooded the company's employee message board with comments about the project. According to CNBC, the forum, which was meant to be used for submitting questions to Google executives for the International Women's Day Summit, had to be shut down due to the "divisive content" and disruption caused by the comments.

In addition to these controversies, the YouTube music team faced its own set of challenges. Prior to attending an Austin City Council meeting to promote a resolution urging Google to engage in collective bargaining, the entire team was laid off. Alphabet Worker's Union, representing workers at Google's parent company, disclosed that the layoffs were orchestrated by Cognizant, a professional services company subcontracted by Alphabet.

Alphabet and Google CEO, Sundar Pichai, is also under scrutiny as calls for his resignation grow following the company's recent AI failures. Notably, Google suspended its AI image generator, Gemini, after it produced historically inaccurate photos.

Furthermore, on February 28, Axel Springer, the parent company of Business Insider, initiated a $2.3 billion lawsuit against Google in a Dutch court. The suit alleges financial losses suffered by 32 media groups due to Google's advertising practices.

These ongoing controversies continue to challenge Google's reputation and raise concerns about its commitments to ethical practices and employee welfare. As the tech giant navigates through these issues, stakeholders will closely watch for further developments and possible resolutions to restore confidence in the company.