Microsoft employees demand halt to funding of illegal Israeli settlements

Microsoft's charitable giving platform has featured organisations operating in illegal Israeli settlements, including one that supports the Israeli military, while removing the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), prompting an internal petition from employees calling for policy changes.

Microsoft donates to Israeli groups Ma'aleh Adumim Foundation, Ein Prat Academy for Leadership, and the Megillot Dead Sea Rescue Team, which violate international law under the Geneva Conventions, the employees said in a recent petition.

"Microsoft is directly funding these illegal and immoral settlements by allowing these organisations to remain," the petition said, asking the company to halt matching donations to the three organisations, according to a report published on Drop Site News, an online media outlet.

"This is not only unethical but also goes against our inclusive values as a company," it added.

Microsoft has not commented on the claims, and as of Tuesday, the occupied West Bank charities were still listed on the Benevity platform, where employees can donate to non-profit organisations and receive matching contributions from their employer.

The three organisations named in the Microsoft employees' petition describe themselves on their websites as being actively involved in the occupation.

The Ma'aleh Adumim Foundation aims to "promote and improve the cultural and social welfare of the residents of the city of Ma’aleh Adumim, Israel and its environs", according to its official documents.

'Aided, abetted and even accelerated genocide'

Situated just outside Jerusalem, the settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim is a particularly contentious one that some analysts argue impedes the two-state solution by physically obstructing the creation of a contiguous Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank, the report noted.

Another organisation that Microsoft supports through donations is the Ein Prat Academy, which describes itself as a "pre-military leadership" programme for Israeli youth.

Its fundraising materials state that the academy's mission is "training Israel's next generation of IDF (Israel Defense Forces) officers and commanders of the highest calibre", and note that it is "the sole pre-military institution with a formal agreement with the IDF".

Located in the occupied West Bank settlement of Kfar Adumim, the academy is listed on Benevity as a "volunteering organisation who helps and supports anyone who got lost/wounded or any other problem in Judea desert area".

Hossam Nasr, a software engineer at Microsoft, said: "Microsoft has aided, abetted, and even accelerated this genocide by continuing to sell (Microsoft's cloud computing platform) Azure services to the Israeli military while disregarding and suppressing internal employee dissent and silencing Palestinian, Arab, and pro-Palestinian employees," according to the report.

"It is as disappointing as it is unsurprising that Microsoft would withhold funding to UNRWA, the most crucial organisation providing humanitarian support to Palestinians, while at the same time helping fund settlement projects that are universally recognised as being in violation of international law,” he added.