Amazon has taken action against Palestinian software engineer Ahmad Shahror, suspending him due to his criticism of the company’s dealings with the Israeli government. Shahror voiced his opposition to ‘Project Nimbus,’ a cloud computing project providing services like AI and data centers to Israel.
Amazon cited policy violations, while Shahror defended his right to dissent within the company. Shahror had been employed for three years at Amazon’s Whole Foods division in Seattle, using Slack and a letter to express his objections to Project Nimbus.
The suspension was a consequence of Shahror’s stance against Project Nimbus, which he argued was providing crucial resources to Israel. Amazon’s move followed Shahror’s public protest of the Israeli government deal.
Amazon notified Shahror that his internal Slack posts may have violated company policies. The Palestinian engineer was suspended after protesting the contract with the Israeli government.
Shahror alleges that Amazon is attempting to silence Palestinian voices. A similar incident led to the termination of a French employee for social media posts critical of Israel. Amazon has stated that it does not tolerate discriminatory or threatening behavior. Microsoft also previously terminated employees for protesting against aid to Israel.