Microsoft’s 50th anniversary celebration at its Redmond, Washington, headquarters last week was marred by unexpected protests from two employees, both of whom have now resigned. Among them was Indian-American engineer Vaniya Agrawal, whose emotional confrontation with Microsoft leadership has since gone viral.

During a high-profile event that featured former Microsoft CEOs Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer onstage with current CEO Satya Nadella, Agrawal stood up from the audience and confronted the trio. “50,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been murdered with Microsoft technology. How dare you. Shame on all of you for celebrating on their blood,” she declared, referring to the company’s alleged role in military technologies used in the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Agrawal’s remarks came just moments after another protester, Ibtihal Aboussad, interrupted a presentation by Mustafa Suleyman, the CEO of Microsoft AI. Aboussad called Suleyman a “war profiteer” for Microsoft’s involvement in military AI contracts, particularly in Israel. Suleyman responded calmly: “Thank you for your protest, I hear you,” before Aboussad was escorted out.

Resignation Letter Echoes Accusations

Agrawal later sent a company-wide email announcing her resignation, explaining that she could no longer remain with a company whose technology was allegedly being used to facilitate what she called “genocide by Israel.” Her resignation was prompted by a recent Associated Press investigation, which revealed a USD 133 million contract between Microsoft and Israel’s Ministry of Defense. The report claimed that Microsoft’s Azure and AI tools were being utilised for military surveillance and operations.

In her email, Agrawal wrote: “I cannot, in good conscience, be part of a company that participates in this violent injustice.” She further encouraged remaining employees to reflect on Microsoft’s ethical obligations, adding: “If you must continue to work at Microsoft, I urge you to use your position, power, and privilege to hold Microsoft accountable to its own values and mission.”