Amazon Suspends Palestinian Software Engineer For Speaking Out About The Company's Participation In Genocide

Amazon suspended Palestinian software engineer Ahmed Shahrour for sending company execs and workers a letter condemning Amazon for aiding in the ongoing genocide of his people through Project Nimbus. This comes soon after another local tech giant, Microsoft, fired four workers in connection to a string of anti-genocide protests. The “worker intifada” these anti-war techies demand, seems to be spreading. 

“To the Amazon executives incubating Project Nimbus: do yourselves a favor and drop it,” Shahrour wrote. “We, the workers, outnumber you. We will force your hand. We are done using your channels. A new, worker-led Palestinian resistance is forming at Amazon.”

According to a press release, Shahrour sent an email to some of the biggest bosses at Amazon — Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO Matt Garman, Senior Vice President David Zapolsky, etc. — at 8am on Monday, his three year anniversary with the company.  At the same time, Shahrour also shared the letter with his fellow workers in several Slack channels. 

The letter, now published on Medium, described his experience as a Palestinian Amazon worker before and after Oct. 7, 2023. 

“When I first joined Amazon over three years [ago], I was a proud Amazon software engineer,” Shahrour’s statement read. “I came here driven by a belief in technological brilliance and a desire to be the best engineer Amazon had ever seen. I contributed to the Alexa experience and delighted customers directly through the Alexa app, including upgrading the wake word engine for hundreds of thousands of users globally. In my current role at Whole Foods, I build the internal tools that manage recipes for stores worldwide. I believed I was helping drive innovation at a top “FAANG” tech company.”

“That belief has been shattered,” he wrote. 

Shahrour expressed outrage over Jassy’s statements following Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, which sympathized with Israelis, but made no mention of the plight of Palestinians. Shahrour called this a “blatant act of white supremacy, signaling that brown lives are worth less. My family is less. I am less.”

This attitude continued as Israel waged genocide in Gaza. Shahrour claimed Amazon workers were allowed to spew “racist vitriol" in their Slack channels with impunity, but workers who supported Palestine were censored and punished. 

“This racist double standard is not an oversight; it is policy. It protects the perpetrators and silences the victims,” Shahrour wrote. 

But Amazon’s disregard for Palestinian lives did not end with suppression. In 2021, Israel signed a deal with AWS and Google for a $1.2 billion project, known as Project Nimbus, to provide cloud services for the Israeli military and government. As Shahrour explained in his letter, Project Nimbus powers AI systems including Lavender and Habsorbo that automate the targeting and mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza. 

Shahrour experienced “profound moral shock” when he learned of Amazon’s participation in the annihilation of his people. In what he describes as a “period of deep despair,” Shahrour almost resigned, but a colleague encouraged him to stay at the company with the mission to organize his fellow workers and dismantle Project Nimbus from within. 

But Shahrour’s inside job against genocidal tech may be short lived. 

According to the press release, by 10:15am Amazon had already revoked Shahrour’s access to all Amazon systems, including Slack, email, and his laptop. A representative from HR sent Shahrour an email, formally confirming his suspension: “It has come to Amazon’s attention that a post you made in multiple internal Company Slack channels may violate multiple policies. Effective immediately, you are being suspended pending investigation with pay until further notice.”

Shahrour, still a paid employee of Amazon, carried through his plan to flyer outside the re:Invent AWS building to spread awareness of his campaign against Project Nimbus. In an interview with The Burner, Shahrour said security guards gave him a trespass warning and accused him of obstructing business. 

While Amazon did not react well to his letter, Shahrour said he received lots of positive feedback from his coworkers. After circulating his statement through several Slack channels, more than 100 Amazon workers messaged him, he said. He estimated that 85% were totally positive, saying they support him, calling him brave, admitting they were too afraid to publicly “like” the post for fear of retaliation. 

Shahrour said he hopes his action will energize some Amazon workers who do not support Israel’s genocide in Gaza. And if he gets fired for speaking out, it will be worth it to him. 

Anti-genocide organizers in tech have encouraged resigning workers to go out with a bang. No Azure For Apartheid (NOAA), a group of current and former Microsoft workers, encourages disgruntled workers not to leave silently, but to “donate” their resignation to their campaign, which will organize to maximize the impact of your exit. For example, NOAA made national headlines last month when Microsoft fired four workers over a sit-in at Microsoft President Brad Smith’s office. Those workers, obviously unhappy with the poor morality of their company, could have quit without a ripple, instead they made a splash — Seriously, they paddled kayaks to Microsoft executives’ waterfront mansions. 

As of 2pm Thursday, Shahrour has not been fired. Yesterday morning Shahrour received an automated email from the Amazon HR Central Investigations Intake Team stating that an Employee Relations Investigator would contact him shortly. No contact so far. Amazon did not respond to my request for comment.