Indian-origin techie Vaniya Agrawal disrupts Microsoft session over 'Israeli ties' again. Here's what unfolded

Indian-origin former employee of Microsoft, Vaniya Agrawal and her colleague Hossam Nasr protested against the tech giant in their Seattle, US, session for arming the Israeli military. They confronted Neta Haiby, the company's Head of AI Security, and interrupted her while she was speaking on stage during the Azure AI session.

This wasn't the first time she protested against Microsoft, she had staged a coordinated protest earlier in April at the company's 50th year celebration.

Agarwal was seen disrupting Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's talk, videos of her protest against the leadership have surfaced online where she is seen saying, “I’m a Microsoft worker and I do not consent... 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been murdered with Microsoft technology. How dare you? Shame on all of you for celebrating on their blood."

Agarwal had joined Microsoft a year and a half ago and believed in their mission to “empower every person and every organisation on the planet to do more.” But she began to feel stifled as leaked documents revealed how Microsoft AI powers the most “sensitive and highly classified projects” for the Israeli military. In a mail written to all her employees and the leadership, she expressed her views on the ongoing war in Gaza. She wrote, "Microsoft cloud and AI enable the Israeli military to be more lethal and destructive in Gaza. It is undeniable that Microsoft’s Azure cloud offerings and AI developments form the technological backbone of Israel’s automated apartheid and genocide systems. Microsoft is so deeply connected to the Israeli military that it was just yesterday designated one of the priority boycott targets of the BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanctions) campaign."