Microsoft’s long-running employee revolt over the company’s cloud contracts with Israel intensified this week when seven protesters — two of them current staff members — entered President Brad Smith’s office at the Redmond, Washington, headquarters. Building 34 was placed in temporary lockdown while police removed the occupants and detained them on 26 Aug. The action followed a series of demonstrations that included 20 arrests at the campus the previous week and picketing outside the homes of senior executives. Internal e-mails disclosed earlier show that Microsoft security officials had already asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation for assistance in tracking the pro-Palestinian demonstrations. The activists, organised under the banner “No Azure for Apartheid”, are demanding that the company end all work with the Israeli government and pay reparations to Palestinians. Smith held an emergency press conference after regaining access to his office, reiterating that Microsoft will ‘investigate and get to the truth’ of how its Azure cloud services are being used in Israel. The company has retained Covington & Burling to examine allegations, first reported by the Guardian, that Israel’s military relies on Azure for mass surveillance of Palestinians. Smith said Microsoft supports lawful protest but would not tolerate property damage or unlawful entry. On 28 Aug, Microsoft confirmed it had fired the two employees who took part in the sit-in, citing ‘serious breaches of company policies and our code of conduct’. The dismissals echo actions by other large technology firms that have faced similar internal unrest over the Gaza war, underscoring growing tensions between workforce activism and corporate security priorities.