Microsoft Donates to Israeli Illegal Settlements
West Bank, MINA – Giant Tech Microsoft has made donations and promoted fundraising for social organizations based in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including one that supports the Israeli military.
Meanwhile, Microsoft withheld donations to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). Anadolu Agency reported on Wednesday.
This sparked an internal petition from Microsoft employees calling for a policy change.
Microsoft employees circulated a petition demanding that the company stop donating to Israeli organizations Ma’aleh Adumim Foundation, Ein Prat Academy for Leadership, and Megilot Dead Sea Rescue Team, arguing that the organizations are in direct violation of international law.
“Microsoft is directly funding these illegal and immoral settlements by allowing these organizations to exist,” said the petition, which called on the company to stop matching donations to the three organizations, according to a report published on Drop Site News.
“Not only is this unethical, it goes against our inclusive values as a company,” it added.
Microsoft has not commented on the demands and as of Tuesday the West Bank charities were still listed on its Benevity platform, where employees can donate to non-profit organizations and receive matching contributions from their employers.
All three organizations mentioned in the Microsoft employee petition describe themselves on their websites as actively involved in the occupation.
The Ma’aleh Adumim Foundation aims to “promote and enhance the cultural and social well-being of the residents of the town of Ma’aleh Adumim, Israel and its surroundings,” according to its official documents.
Located just outside Jerusalem, the Ma’aleh Adumim settlement is highly controversial as some analysts argue that it impedes the two-state solution by physically blocking the establishment of a contiguous Palestinian state in the West Bank, the report notes.
Another organization Microsoft supports through donations is Ein Prat Academy, which describes itself as a “pre-military leadership” program for Israeli youth.
“Microsoft has aided, abetted, and even accelerated this genocide by continuing to sell Azure (Microsoft’s cloud computing platform) services to the Israeli military, while ignoring and suppressing internal employee dissent and silencing Palestinian, Arab, and pro-Palestinian employees,” said Hossam Nasr, a software engineer at Microsoft.
“It is both disappointing and surprising that Microsoft is withholding funding for UNRWA, the most important organization providing humanitarian support to Palestinians, while at the same time helping to fund settlement projects that are universally recognized as a violation of international law,” he added. (T/RE1/P2)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
