Amazon has suspended Palestinian software engineer Ahmad Shahror. This action was taken in response to his opposition to the company’s agreement with the Israeli government. Shahror’s criticism focused on ‘Project Nimbus,’ a cloud computing initiative that provides AI and data center services to Israel.
Amazon cited policy violations as the reason for the suspension. Shahror, however, defended his right to dissent within the company. Shahror was a long-term employee at Amazon’s Whole Foods division in Seattle, and voiced his concerns about Project Nimbus via Slack and a letter.
Shahror’s suspension resulted from his stance against the project, which he believes supports Israel. The company took action after Shahror publicly voiced his criticism of the Israeli government deal.
After Shahror’s public criticism, Amazon issued a notice, stating his internal communications had violated policies. Amazon suspended the Palestinian engineer for protesting the contract with the Israeli government.
Shahror claims that Amazon is attempting to silence Palestinian voices. A French employee was also terminated for anti-Israel social media posts. Amazon has stated it doesn’t tolerate discriminatory or threatening behavior. This incident echoes previous situations at Microsoft, where employees faced similar consequences for protesting against aid to Israel.