Jun 26, 2024
Amazon’s Cloud Unit Conference Interrupted by Protest Over Gaza
Bloomberg News
,![An Amazon.com logo on an Amazon electric delivery van designed by Rivian in the Queens borough of New York, US, on Monday, Oct. 30, 2023. Amazon says it now has 10,000 vehicles in its electric delivery van fleet from Rivian. Photographer: Bing Guan/Bloomberg, Bloomberg An Amazon.com logo on an Amazon electric delivery van designed by Rivian in the Queens borough of New York, US, on Monday, Oct. 30, 2023. Amazon says it now has 10,000 vehicles in its electric delivery van fleet from Rivian. Photographer: Bing Guan/Bloomberg](/polopoly_fs/1.2090005.1719465618!/fileimage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_620/an-amazon-com-logo-on-an-amazon-electric-delivery-van-designed-by-rivian-in-the-queens-borough-of-new-york-us-on-monday-oct-30-2023-amazon-says-it-now-has-10-000-vehicles-in-its-electric-delivery-van-fleet-from-rivian-photographer-bing-guan-bloomberg.jpg)
(Bloomberg) -- A conference hosted by Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud division was disrupted by protesters calling for an end to a $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli government that the company shares with Alphabet Inc.’s Google.
Dave Levy, an Amazon Web Services vice president who oversees public sector sales, was starting to speak Wednesday at the cloud unit’s conference in Washington when he was interrupted. A series of audience members, some holding signs, accused Amazon of complicity in genocide in Israel’s war in Gaza with Hamas, which is designated a terrorist organization by the US and EU. The protesters were escorted out of the event space.
The Israeli government’s Project Nimbus, which Amazon shares with Google, is a program to transition government and military technology infrastructure to cloud-computing services. No Tech For Apartheid, a coalition of tech workers opposed to the deal, later posted videos of the event. Earlier this year, Google fired 28 employees who had protested the contract.
“AWS is focused on making the benefits of our world-leading cloud technology available to all our customers, wherever they are located,” Amazon spokesperson Duncan Neasham said in a statement. “We are committed to ensuring our employees are safe, supporting our colleagues affected by these terrible events, and working with our humanitarian relief partners to help those impacted by the war.”
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