Two activists stormed the Amazon Web Services Summit in Washington, DC, on Wednesday to protest Project Nimbus, Amazon and Google. Cloud computing contract worth $1.2 billion with the Israeli government.
The protest, which disrupted the keynote speech by Dave Levy, vice president of global public sector at AWS, is the latest in a series of recent protests that have targeted Project Nimbus.
The first activist, who appeared to be a young man in a video shared with WIRED, stood on a chair waving a Palestinian flag and demanded an end to Project Nimbus.
“Dave Levy, why is Amazon contracting with a government that all major human rights organizations consider an apartheid state?” the Scream. “Why is Amazon providing cloud services for a government that is committing genocide and the crime of apartheid?”
The man was immediately escorted away by security and two officers from the DC Metropolitan Police Department. Shortly after, a second activist, who appeared to be a young woman in a video shared with WIRED, stood on a chair as she waved a banner that read: “LEAVE GAZA ALIVE.”
“Forty thousand dead, Dave Levy!” she screamed. “You have blood on your hands with the technology that drives the indiscriminate killing of Palestinians! You can make technology forever, but your technology is driving genocide! How do you feel knowing that genocide is happening on Amazon?
This activist was also quickly escorted out of the location by security personnel.
Human rights observer and International Amnesty Both have declared that Israel is committing the crime of apartheid. Since Israel began its military campaign in Gaza last fall, more than 39,000 Palestinians, including more than 15,000 children, have died, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Israel’s military campaign followed the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, which killed more than 1,100 Israelis.
Israel is currently being accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice in a case brought by South Africa. In May, the International Criminal Court filed arrest warrants, alleging war crimes, against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and two other Hamas officials. Israel has repeatedly denied accusations of genocide and other crimes.
Both activists represented No Tech for Apartheid, a coalition formed in 2021 to protest Project Nimbus. The group is made up of tech workers and organizers from the grassroots Muslim group MPower Change and the anti-Zionist Jewish group Jewish Voices for Peace.
In a statement issued by No Tech for Apartheid after the protest, the group said that while they have been protesting Project Nimbus since 2021, for Google and Amazon to continue the contract “in the midst of this genocide reaches a new level of horror. “
“We are here to disrupt business as usual until they cut ties,” the statement said.
Amazon did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment.
No Tech for Apartheid has led several major protests in recent months. In March, group member and then Google cloud engineer Eddie Hatfield interrupts Google Israel CEO at Mind the Tech, a Google-sponsored conference highlighting the Israeli tech industry. Hatfield He was fired days later.
In April, Google employees from the group staged a sit-in protest at the company’s offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California, with simultaneous protests outside. In response, nine employees were detained by police and More than 50 employees They were laid off in two waves of layoffs. Some of the laid-off workers filed an unfair labor practice charge In response, it was filed with the National Labor Relations Board and the case is ongoing.
In recent weeks, as part of another No Tech for Apartheid effort, more than 1,100 college students from more than 120 universities have pledged not to work or intern at Google or Amazon until they leave Project Nimbus.
