Google’s decision to fire 28 employees who protested at its offices against a controversial contract Project “Nimbus” sparked controversy and criticism, public broadcaster National Public Radio (NPR) reported.

According to NPR, the workers were fired for “physically interfere with the work of other Google employees.”

The group No Tech for Apartheid, made up of Google employees, has been trying to force Google to give up contracts with the Israeli government since 2021.

“Google was literally silencing our voices in the workplace and did not allow any dissent on the part of workers regarding the project,” he assured NPR. Zelda Montes, member of No Tech for Apartheid.

For this reason, on Tuesday, April 18, the group organized protests at Google offices in Silicon Valley, New York and Seattle, in which more than 100 protesters took part.

In one day, Google fired Montes and 27 other employees who were part of the No Tech for Apartheid group. According to them, even those who did not physically participate in the protests, but were identified as members of the group during official surveillance.

“Near one of the largest mass layoffs in the tech industry and this happens because many Silicon Valley companies work with Israel. Some employees say they don’t like it,” the NGO says.

Google accused the protesters of harassment, harassment and violation of internal policies, claiming they destroyed private property and prevented other employees from accessing it. However, the workers denied the allegations, saying their protest was peaceful and that they did not threaten or harm other workers.

In a statement, No Tech for Apartheid rejected Google’s claims, saying that if anyone had been harassed or harassed, they their Palestinian, Arab and Muslim counterparts.

Additionally, the group denounced that Google publicly misrepresents the scope of the Nimbus project, that, according to the news agency NotiPress, is a cloud-based infrastructure for monitoring key sectors, especially defense and finance.

At the same time, in a magazine report time it is said that Google has developed special tools for the Israeli Ministry of Defense and has increased its contracts with Israeli occupation forces since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict.

Civil society organizations such as R3D (Digital Rights Network) warn that Palestinian voices are being silenced online, raising questions about responsibility and ethical impact of these technology platforms in international conflicts.

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R3D believes that the role of technology platforms in attacks on Palestine continues to remain under scrutiny. “For example, companies like Meta, refused to provide detailed information about their content moderation efforts related to the conflict,” he says.