Google said “each fired worker had…” after firing 20 additional workers in response to demonstrations against the Israel project

In response to demonstrations against the company’s $1.2 billion cloud computing deal with the Israeli government, known as Project Nimbus, Google has let go of 20 additional workers.
These layoffs come after protests on April 16 at the Google headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, and New York City. The activist organization No Tech for Apartheid, which has been against big tech firms collaborating with Israel since 2021, claims that Google let go of around 20 more employees last week, bringing the total to 50.

A representative for No Tech for Apartheid, Jane Chung, said, “The corporation is attempting to quash dissent, silence its workers, and reassert its power over them.” Some of the fired workers, according to her, were “non-participating bystanders.”
Google says it is terminating 20 additional workers.

Following ongoing inquiries into the April 16 “sit-ins,” which caused disruptions to business, Google announced more firings. Each dismissed employee had deliberately disturbed offices, according to a spokesman.
There are rumors that the firings indicate a growing divide between Google management and a group of workers who are against the company’s government contract in Israel. In an internal statement last week, Chris Rackow, Google’s chief of security, denounced the demonstrations, saying that the “unacceptable, extremely disruptive” behavior “made coworkers feel threatened.””
Following their more than eight-hour occupation of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian’s office, nine protestors were taken into custody by police. After discovering that 28 workers were engaged, Google dismissed them, issuing a strong warning that infractions of workplace behavior would not go unpunished.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai: Disruptive politics have no place in the workplace
In a statement to employees, Google CEO Sundar Pichai expressed his opinion that while the company promotes “vibrant, open discussion” to spur creativity, “ultimately we are a workplace and our policies and expectations are clear: this is a business.”
“[This is] not a place to act in a way that disrupts coworkers or makes them feel unsafe, to attempt to use the company as a personal platform, or to fight over disruptive issues or debate politics,” Pichai said.
Pichai drew a boundary, saying, “When we come to work, our goal is to organise the world’s information. That supersedes everything else.” He praised the “amazing products” that resulted from free discussion.
The firings coincide with larger demonstrations against US agencies’ collaboration with the Israeli government. Pro-Palestinian protests have caused unrest at universities, and the day before Google’s sit-ins, demonstrators briefly shut down major thoroughfares in protest of the Gaza War.