Palestinian Developer Interrupts Microsoft Keynote in Protest of Gaza Crisis

For the second consecutive day, Microsoft's Build developer conference was interrupted by a protester. Jay Parikh, Microsoft's Head of CoreAI, was presenting the company's Azure AI Foundry initiatives when a Palestinian technology worker disrupted his keynote, protesting Microsoft's engagements with the Israeli government.

"Jay! My people are suffering!" shouted the unidentified tech worker. "Sever your ties! No Azure for apartheid! Free Palestine!"

The individual was swiftly removed from the keynote while continuing to demand that Parikh—a senior leader at Microsoft—end the company's partnership with Israel. Hossam Nasr, an organizer with the protest group No Azure for Apartheid, informed The Verge that the protester had the group's support. The organization has coordinated several employee-led demonstrations at Microsoft events in recent months. Nasr did not provide the protester's name but confirmed he is a "Palestinian technology worker."

This follows a similar disruption by Microsoft employee Joe Lopez during the opening keynote at Build the day before, while CEO Satya Nadella was speaking. While Parikh paused and remained silent during the interruption, Nadella proceeded with his talk as Lopez and a former Google employee voiced opposition to Microsoft's cloud and AI agreements with Israel. Lopez later emailed thousands of Microsoft colleagues urging them to break their silence. "If we remain quiet, we will pay for that silence with our humanity," Lopez wrote.

Parikh resumed his keynote on Tuesday morning, briefly stumbling over his words, before a Microsoft colleague joined him on stage to continue the presentation on AI developer tools. Microsoft appointed Parikh last October, and CEO Nadella has tasked him with developing the next generation of AI platforms and developer tools. Parikh previously played a key role in shaping Meta's engineering culture during its early years as Facebook.

This latest protest follows Microsoft's announcement last week that it conducted both an internal review and an external assessment—via an unnamed firm—to evaluate how its technology is being used in the Gaza conflict. The company stated that its relationship with Israel’s Ministry of Defense (IMOD) is "structured as a standard commercial partnership" and that it "found no evidence that Microsoft’s Azure and AI technologies, or any other software, have been used to harm individuals or that IMOD has violated our terms of service or AI Code of Conduct."

Last month, two former Microsoft employees also disrupted the company’s 50th-anniversary event. One of them labeled Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman a "war profiteer" and demanded the company "stop using AI to support genocide in our region."