Microsoft's 50th anniversary celebrations were bookmarked by an unlikely event.

As the party rolled on, a duo came out from the blue to bat for Palestine against the tech industry's work to supply artificial intelligence to the Israel Defence Forces.

The report stating Microsoft supplying AI resources to IDF first appeared on Associated Press earlier this year.

While Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer and Satya Nadella stood in unison to mark half a century of Microsoft's supremacy in the tech world, things took a rather drastic turn.

The show was being hosted by Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleiman.

“Mustafa, shame on you,” cried out Ibtihal Aboussad, a Microsoft employee, as she strode toward the stage.

“You claim that you care about using AI for good but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military. Fifty-thousand people have died and Microsoft powers this genocide in our region,” she shouted.

“Thank you for your protest, I hear you,” Suleyman responded.

Indian software engineer takes centre stage

The next disruption came during a historic segment of the celebration. It was Vaniya Agrawal, an Indian-American software engineer.

“Shame on you all. You’re all hypocrites,” Agrawal shouted, pointing fingers at Microsoft’s holy trinity.

Employees in the audience booed. Some turned away. Gates wore a smirk. Others, like Ballmer and Nadella, appeared visibly shaken.

“50,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been murdered with Microsoft technology. How dare you. Shame on all of you for celebrating on their blood. Cut ties with Israel.”

After Vaniya was shown the doors, Gates gave a nonchalant smile before continuing with the discussion.

A resignation

Hours later, the symbolic rupture became institutional. According to India Today, Agrawal submitted her resignation with immediate effect—her last day marked as April 11.

In her exit letter, obtained by The Verge, Agrawal 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.”

The letter continued: “All this begs the question, which ‘people’ are we empowering with our technology? The oppressors enforcing an apartheid regime? The war criminals committing a genocide? Unfortunately, at this point, it’s irrefutable that Microsoft is complicit — they are a digital weapons manufacturer that powers surveillance, apartheid, and genocide. And by working for this company, we are all complicit.”

War, AI, and the ethics of code

Earlier this year, The Associated Press conducted a damning investigation. It revealed that AI models developed by Microsoft and OpenAI were integrated into Israeli military programs—used for target selection in bombing campaigns across Gaza and Lebanon.

The AP report detailed a tragic 2023 airstrike that struck a civilian vehicle in Lebanon. Three young girls and their grandmother were killed in that attack, which, sources claimed, stemmed from a misidentified AI-generated target.

Microsoft, for its part, issued a carefully worded statement:

“We provide many avenues for all voices to be heard. Importantly, we ask that this be done in a way that does not cause a business disruption. If that happens, we ask participants to relocate. We are committed to ensuring our business practices uphold the highest standards.”

But on Friday, even those standards appeared to falter. Agrawal and Aboussad lost access to their company accounts immediately after the protest, a signal—though unofficial, that termination was imminent. Neither has received direct communication from the company, Aboussad told AP.

This isn’t the first internal rupture at Microsoft over Gaza.

In February, five employees were forcibly removed from a closed-door meeting with Satya Nadella for similar protests.

The juxtaposition was brutal.

While Gates waxed nostalgic—“I think Steve and I almost cared too much... and Satya has this ability to care as much as we did, but with more of a team,”—two employees were being dragged out for questioning the price of that very care.