Microsoft ‘crumbled under pressure’ over Palestinian vigil, fired employee says

Two recently fired Microsoft employees claim that the tech giant targeted them over their pro-Palestinian activism. (AFP/File Photo)
Two recently fired Microsoft employees claim that the tech giant targeted them over their pro-Palestinian activism. (AFP/File Photo)
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Updated 02 November 2024
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Microsoft ‘crumbled under pressure’ over Palestinian vigil, fired employee says

Microsoft ‘crumbled under pressure’ over Palestinian vigil, fired employee says
  • Hossam Nasr says he and Abdo Mohamed were targeted for ‘daring to humanize Palestinians’
  • Israel-linked lobby group broke news of Nasr’s firing before he was informed

LONDON: Two recently fired Microsoft employees claim that the tech giant targeted them over their pro-Palestinian activism.

Data scientist Abdo Mohamed and software engineer Hossam Nasr, both of whom are Egyptian, had their employment terminated on Oct. 24, the same day they held a vigil outside Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, for Palestinians killed in Gaza, The Guardian reported.

They were both members of No Azure for Apartheid, a pressure group of Microsoft employees who campaigned against the company’s sale of its Azure cloud services to Israel, including the Israel Defense Forces.

After his firing, Nasr said that Microsoft had targeted him and Mohamed for “daring to humanize Palestinians.”

The pressure group has demanded that Microsoft end all Azure links to Israel, disclose all ties with the country, call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and uphold employee free speech.

“Microsoft really crumbled under pressure, internally and externally, to fire me and to shut down and retaliate against our event, not because of policy violations, simply because we were daring to humanize Palestinians, and daring to say that Microsoft should not be complicit with an army that is plausibly accused of genocide,” Nasr said.

In a statement, Microsoft said that Nasr and Mohamed were fired for “disrupting the work of their colleagues” and hosting the vigil on company property.

But the pair reject both claims, saying that the event followed the same procedures as other company employee groups, with more than 200 Microsoft workers attending on the ground or virtually.

Nasr and Mohamed said that they communicated with Microsoft ahead of the vigil, and that police, who were called to the event, observed the vigil without taking action.

“(Microsoft) never, at any point, said that termination was on the table or even that disciplinary consequences were on the table,” Nasr told The Guardian.

Another controversy surrounding the firing involves an Israel-linked lobby group, Stop Antisemitism, publicizing Nasr’s dismissal before the employee himself had been informed.

Nasr showed The Guardian a phone log, showing that he was informed of his firing at 9 p.m. that day — 90 minutes after Stop Antisemitism had posted the news of his termination on social media.

He also claimed that he was the subject of repeated investigations for his pro-Palestinian comments in employee groups, while comments accusing him and Mohamed of being “members of Hamas” were ignored by HR.

Workers at Microsoft have reported widespread internal discontent over the firings.

One Palestinian employee told The Guardian: “It was unjust and very intentional as a message to the community to silence the loudest voice in our community.”

Microsoft is not the only tech giant to suffer employee discontent over its ties to the Israeli military. In April, Google fired more than 50 employees who protested against its links to the Israel Defense Forces.

-ENDS-


Pentagon restricts Ukraine’s use of US missiles against Russia, WSJ reports

Pentagon restricts Ukraine’s use of US missiles against Russia, WSJ reports
Updated 9 sec ago
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Pentagon restricts Ukraine’s use of US missiles against Russia, WSJ reports

Pentagon restricts Ukraine’s use of US missiles against Russia, WSJ reports
  • As the White House sought to persuade Putin to join peace talks, an approval process was put in place at the Pentagon has kept Ukraine from launching strikes deep into Russian territory, the Journal said

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon has been quietly blocking Ukraine from using US-made long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to strike targets inside Russia, limiting Kyiv’s ability to employ these weapons in its defense against Moscow’s invasion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing US officials.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

The news came as US President Donald Trump has grown more frustrated publicly over the three-year-old war and his inability to secure a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

After his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a subsequent meeting with European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky failed to produce observable progress, Trump said on Friday that he was again considering

slapping Russia with economic sanctions or, alternatively, walking away from the peace process.

“I’m going to make a decision as to what we do and it’s going to be, it’s going to be a very important decision, and that’s whether or not it’s massive sanctions or massive tariffs or both, or we do nothing and say it’s your fight,” Trump said.

Trump had hoped to arrange a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelensky, but that has also proven difficult. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told NBC on Friday that there was no agenda in place for a sitdown with Zelensky.

“Putin is ready to meet with Zelensky when the agenda would be ready for a summit. And this agenda is not ready at all,” Lavrov told NBC, saying no meeting was planned for now.

As the White House sought to persuade Putin to join peace talks, an approval process put in place at the Pentagon has kept Ukraine from launching strikes deep into Russian territory, the Journal reported.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has final say over use of the long-range weapons, the Journal said.

Neither Ukraine’s presidential office nor the defense ministry immediately responded to Reuters’ request for a comment outside business hours. The White House and the Pentagon also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

 

 

 


UN rapporteur to take part in former Labour leader Corbyn’s ‘Gaza tribunal’

UN rapporteur to take part in former Labour leader Corbyn’s ‘Gaza tribunal’
Updated 23 August 2025
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UN rapporteur to take part in former Labour leader Corbyn’s ‘Gaza tribunal’

UN rapporteur to take part in former Labour leader Corbyn’s ‘Gaza tribunal’
  • The event, titled the “Gaza tribunal,” will be held on Sept. 4 and 5 at Church House in Westminster

LONDON: A UN special rapporteur will contribute to a two-day “tribunal” into Britain’s role in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has announced.

Corbyn said Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, would take part in the hearings, which are being organized by his Peace and Justice Project, The Guardian newspaper reported on Saturday.

The event, titled the “Gaza tribunal,” will be held on Sept. 4 and 5 at Church House in Westminster.

Speaking at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival on Saturday, Corbyn said the initiative was intended to fill the gap left by the government’s decision to block his private member’s bill calling for an official inquiry into the UK’s role in the conflict.

The bill was halted at its second reading in July.

“We’ve invited people to make submissions — lawyers and others, and voices from Gaza and the West Bank, and other places — in order to put forward their view on the policy. And Francesca Albanese has agreed to take part and put forward her view on the legality of it,” he said.

Corbyn said Albanese was “very keen to support it and get involved,” and compared the event to the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war.

He added that the hearings would seek answers on issues including the use of the RAF Akrotiri airbase during the conflict.

A website dedicated to the tribunal says it will “examine Britain’s role in war crimes perpetrated in Gaza” by “hearing from experts and witnesses,” and “establish the full scale of our government’s complicity in the genocide against the Palestinian people.”

Last month, 22 NGOs, including Action Aid, backed Corbyn’s call for an inquiry and said they would consider supporting an independent tribunal if the government rejected his proposal.


Taiwan’s vote on restarting nuclear plant fails

Taiwan’s vote on restarting nuclear plant fails
Updated 23 August 2025
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Taiwan’s vote on restarting nuclear plant fails

Taiwan’s vote on restarting nuclear plant fails
  • The recall votes, the second in a month, are an attempt to restore ruling party control of the legislature

TAIPEI: A Taiwanese referendum on whether to restart a nuclear power plant failed on Saturday after the number of votes in favor fell short of the legally required threshold.

Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant closed in May, ending atomic energy in Taiwan and increasing concerns about the island’s almost total reliance on fossil fuel imports to power its homes, factories and chip industry.

President Lai Ching-te’s Democratic Progressive Party had opposed reopening Maanshan unless there were safety guarantees and a solution for waste disposal.

FASTFACTS

• President Lai Ching-te’s Democratic Progressive Party had opposed reopening Maanshan unless there were safety guarantees and a solution for waste disposal.

• But the main opposition Kuomintang party supported restarting it, arguing that continued nuclear power supply is needed for energy security.

But the main opposition Kuomintang party supported restarting it, arguing that continued nuclear power supply is needed for energy security.

The referendum failed to pass with around 4.3 million people voting “yes” and 1.5 million voting “no.”

For it to succeed, at least 5 million “yes” votes were required and they had to outnumber “no” votes.

Lai told reporters after the vote that he respected the result and understood “the society’s expectations for diverse energy options.”

“The greatest consensus of Taiwan’s energy debate ... is safety. Nuclear safety is a scientific issue, and one that cannot be resolved through a single vote.”

A survey published by the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation this month showed support for the referendum was high, with 66.4 percent of respondents in favor of restarting Maanshan if authorities confirm there are no safety concerns.

Critics, however, said the vote was a waste of time because the question of whether to reopen the plant was conditional on approval of “the competent authority.”

Taiwanese referendum decisions are valid for two years. If most voters had supported reopening the plant, the government could have ignored the result if safety inspections took longer than that.

“Whether it is passed or not, the decisions will go to the government. So there will be no difference at all,” said Chen Fang-yu, assistant professor of political science at Soochow University in Taipei.

At its peak in the 1980s, nuclear power made up more than 50 percent of Taiwan’s energy generation, with three plants operating six reactors across the island.

But safety concerns have grown in the past four decades following the Three Mile Island accident, dumping of nuclear waste on indigenous land on Taiwan’s Orchid Island and the Fukushima disaster.

Two plants stopped operating between 2018 and 2023 after their operating permits expired. Maanshan stopped for the same reason.

 


Bangladesh aims to deepen trade as Pakistan’s deputy PM makes landmark Dhaka visit

Bangladesh aims to deepen trade as Pakistan’s deputy PM makes landmark Dhaka visit
Updated 23 August 2025
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Bangladesh aims to deepen trade as Pakistan’s deputy PM makes landmark Dhaka visit

Bangladesh aims to deepen trade as Pakistan’s deputy PM makes landmark Dhaka visit
  • Ishaq Dar to meet Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, other senior officials during 2-day visit
  • Exchanges between Dhaka, Islamabad steadily grown since ousting of former PM Hasina last August

DHAKA: Bangladesh seeks to increase trade and economic cooperation with Pakistan, the office of Chief Adviser Prof. Muhammad Yunus said on Saturday as Dhaka began hosting Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar in the highest-level trip from Islamabad in years.

Dar’s two-day visit to Bangladesh will include meetings with Yunus and Touhid Hossain, the country’s adviser for foreign affairs, with discussions expected to cover bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues.

“During the visit of the Pakistan deputy prime minister, Bangladesh will focus on increasing bilateral trade and commerce and economic cooperation,” Azad Majumder, Yunus’ deputy press secretary, told Arab News on Saturday.

Dar’s trip follows Yunus’ meetings with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif over the past year. The two have met twice since Yunus took office last August, after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted in a student-led uprising.

The leaders met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September, and then again during the D-8 Summit in Cairo in December.

Majumder said: “During the meeting at Cairo, both the leaders of Bangladesh and Pakistan identified some areas where bilateral cooperation can be increased between the two countries. Some of these cooperation areas are textile industries, sugar industries, exchange of youth delegation, and so on … Bangladesh will also focus on accelerating bilateral cooperation on (these) areas.”

Dhaka and Islamabad are moving quickly to mend relations after decades of bitterness dating back to Bangladesh’s independence in 1971. The war split East Pakistan — now Bangladesh — from West Pakistan, ending 24 years as one country.

Prior to Dar’s trip, Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan arrived on Thursday on a visit aimed at expanding trade ties, with official talks touching on agriculture and food security to strengthen crop yields.

Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch held foreign office consultations in Dhaka in April this year, the first such dialogue in 15 years.

Pakistani cargo ships also began to arrive at Bangladesh’s main Chittagong port last November, for the first time since 1971.

Humayun Kabir, former Bangladeshi ambassador to the US, told Arab News: “I think both countries are prepared to make up for lost time over the last 15 years and find ways to make a normal relationship, which will be beneficial for both sides.

“Since Pakistan has a stable government at the moment, they can easily initiate this type of diplomatic advancement.

“Bangladesh can benefit in many ways through the enhancement of bilateral relationships with Pakistan … We have many complementarities, particularly in the areas of trade and commerce. Besides, there is scope for people-to-people contact, academic exchange, etc.”

For many Bangladeshis, memories of the 1971 war of independence remain vivid.

“We have some pending issues with Pakistan. Pakistan is yet to fulfill an outstanding issue related to the genocide that took place in Bangladesh in 1971, committed by its people,” Kabir said.

“I think, in order to move forward with the bilateral relationship, a concrete decision should come from the Pakistan side in this regard. When such an emotional issue remains unresolved, there are fears that other areas of cooperation may get hampered.

“Once these pending issues are resolved, I think it will pave the road for a normal relationship, and it will ultimately be a positive thing for both countries.”


Asian activists ready to set sail with largest-ever Gaza aid flotilla

Asian activists ready to set sail with largest-ever Gaza aid flotilla
Updated 23 August 2025
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Asian activists ready to set sail with largest-ever Gaza aid flotilla

Asian activists ready to set sail with largest-ever Gaza aid flotilla
  • First convoy of boats will set sail from Spanish ports for the Gaza strip on Aug. 31
  • Activists from 10 Asian nations, including Indonesia, Philippines are taking part 

JAKARTA/MANILA: Asian activists are preparing to set sail with the Global Sumud Flotilla, an international fleet from 44 countries aiming to reach Gaza by sea to break Israel’s blockade of food and medical aid. 

They have banded together under the Sumud Nusantara initiative, a coalition of activists from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Maldives, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan, to join the global flotilla movement that will begin launching convoys from Aug. 31. 

Sumud Nusantara is part of the GSF, a coordinated, nonviolent fleet comprising mostly small vessels carrying humanitarian aid, which will first leave Spanish ports for the Gaza strip, followed by more convoys from Tunisia and other countries in early September.

The international coalition is set to become the largest coordinated civilian maritime mission ever undertaken to Gaza. 

“This movement comes at a very crucial time, as we know how things are in Gaza with the lack of food entering the strip that they are not only suffering from the impacts of war but also from starvation,” Indonesian journalist Nurhadis told Arab News ahead of his trip. 

“Israel is using starvation as a weapon to wipe out Palestinians in Gaza. This is why we continue to state that what Israel is doing is genocide.” 

Since October 2023, Israel has killed more than 62,000 Palestinians and injured over 157,000 more. As Tel Aviv continued to systematically obstruct food and aid from entering the enclave, a UN-backed global hunger monitor — the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification — declared famine in Gaza on Friday, estimating that more than 514,000 people are suffering from it. 

Nurhadis is part of a group of activists from across Indonesia joining the GSF, which aims to “break Israel’s illegal blockade and draw attention to international complicity in the face of the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people.” 

“We continue to try through this Global Sumud Flotilla action, hoping that the entire world, whether it’s governments or the people and other members of society, will pressure Israel to open its blockade in Palestine,” he said. 

“This is just beyond the threshold of humanity. Israel is not treating Palestinians in Gaza as human beings and the world must not keep silent. This is what we are trying to highlight with this global convoy.” 

The GSF is a people-powered movement that aims to help end the genocide in Gaza, said Rifa Berliana Arifin, Indonesia country director for the Sumud Nusantara initiative and executive committee member of Jakarta-based Aqsa Working Group.  

“Indonesia is participating because this is a huge movement. A movement that aspires to resolve and end the blockade through non-traditional means. We’ve seen how ineffective diplomatic, political approaches have been, because the genocide in Gaza has yet to end. This people-power movement is aimed at putting an end to that,” Arifin told Arab News. 

“This is a non-violent mission … Even though they are headed to Gaza, they are boarding boats that have no weapons … They are simply bringing themselves … for the world to see.” 

As the Sumud Nusantara initiative is led by Malaysia, activists are gathering this weekend in Kuala Lumpur, where a ceremonial send-off for the regional convoy is scheduled to take place on Sunday, led by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. 

One of them is Philippine activist Drieza Lininding, leader of civil society group Moro Consensus Group, who is hoping that the Global Sumud Flotilla will inspire others in the Catholic-majority nation to show their support for Palestine. 

“We are appealing to all our Filipino brothers and sisters, Muslims or Christians, to support the Palestinian cause because this issue is not only about religion, but also about humanity. Gaza has now become the moral compass of the world,” he told Arab News. 

“Everybody is seeing the genocide and the starvation happening in Gaza, and you don’t need to be a Muslim to side with the Palestinians. It is very clear: if you want to be on the right side of history, support all programs and activities to free Palestine … It is very important that as Filipinos we show our solidarity.”