WASHINGTON: Amazon has suspended a Palestinian software engineer hours after he emailed senior executives and posted on internal Slack channels protesting the company’s ties with the Israeli government.
In his letter, Seattle-based Ahmed Shahrour accused Amazon of complicity in Israel’s war in Gaza through Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion joint contract signed with Google in 2021 to supply cloud computing, artificial intelligence and other technology services to the Israeli government and military.
Shahrour, who works at Amazon’s Whole Foods division, also criticized the company for silencing pro-Palestinian voices and dismissing workers’ complaints. His letter, addressed to executives including CEO Andy Jassy, was simultaneously shared across several internal Slack channels.
“Every day I write code at Whole Foods, I remember my brothers and sisters in Gaza being starved by Israel’s man-made blockade,” wrote Shahrour, an Amazon employee for over three years. “I live in a state of constant dissonance: Maintaining the tools that make this company profit, while my people are burned and starved with the help of that very profit. I am left with no choice but to resist directly.”
He urged Amazon colleagues to support a new worker-led Palestinian campaign calling on the company to end its involvement in Project Nimbus.
Two hours after Shahrour sent his letter, Amazon revoked his access to all company systems and emails, informing him he was suspended “with pay until further notice” pending an investigation.
“It has come to Amazon’s attention that a post you made in multiple internal company Slack channels may violate multiple policies. Effective immediately, you are being suspended pending investigation with pay until further notice,” a senior HR representative said in a formal email to Shahrour seen by Arab News.
Shahrour told Arab News he has not been informed which policies he allegedly violated as he awaits contact from an employee relations investigator on the next steps. He added that the company has since deleted his statement from all Slack channels.
In a statement to Arab News, Amazon Spokesperson Brad Glasser said: “We don’t tolerate discrimination, harassment, or threatening behavior or language of any kind in our workplace, and when any conduct of that nature is reported, we investigate it and take appropriate action based on our findings.”
Tech companies have recently come under pressure from employees to cut ties with the Israeli government, whose military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 64,000 people, left tens of thousands injured, and triggered widespread famine that has claimed lives and deepened a worsening humanitarian catastrophe.
Last month, Microsoft fired four employees for participating in protests on company premises against its ties with Israel, including two who took part in a sit-in at the office of the company’s president.
The action followed earlier dismissal of two employees in April who disrupted Microsoft’s 50th anniversary celebrations in similar protests. Terminations drew criticism among activists who accused major tech firms of cracking down on pro-Palestinian speech.
Despite his suspension, Shahrour and community supporters distributed flyers outside the company’s Seattle headquarters to protest Amazon’s work with Israel.
In his letter, he voiced concerns over the discriminate treatment of Palestinian workers. He noted that two days after the Oct. 7, 2023 war, Amazon’s Jassy “sent an email expressing sympathy for Israeli hostages without a single acknowledgment of Palestinian lives.”
“This was a blatant act of white supremacy, signaling that brown lives are worth less. My family is less. I am less,” said Shahrour, an Amazon employee for more than three years.
As part of his broader complaints about the company’s dismissal of worker concerns, he criticized Amazon’s failure to act after more than 1,700 employees submitted a petition to Jassy in December 2023 urging the company to rescind all contracts with the Israeli military and to call for an immediate and sustained ceasefire.
He added that he saw “racist vitriol” on the company’s public Slack channels targeting Palestinians. “Yet, when Palestinian employees and allies attempted to raise awareness of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, their posts were immediately censored and deleted.”
A Palestinian worker, he said, received a written warning for sharing an article about American doctors volunteering in Gaza. “At least one worker was terminated for speaking out,” Shahrour added.
