Working at Google was always my dream job, until I learned about Project Nimbus. I always thought that when I worked at Google, I’d be quick to answer when people asked me where I work. But now that I work here, I try my best to avoid mentioning Google.

 Project Nimbus makes me feel like I am making my living off of the oppression of my family back home. In absolutely no way am I proud of this. Not only am I, along with every other US citizen, complicit in my own people’s oppression through our tax dollars directly funding the israeli military (over 4.8 billion dollars every year), but now my labor at Google further fuels the government and military that actively massacre my people back home.

 If Google truly believes in avoiding unjust impacts through the use of their AI as they state publicly at ai.google/principles, then why are they choosing to profit from a billion dollar contract with a government and military which consistently violates international law? Not to mention that this entity is known to exist solely due to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

The Israeli military is known for its egregious tactics of murdering and imprisoning children, women, elderly, and men alike on a daily basis, for no reason other than being Palestinian. It doesn’t hurt to mention that this same military directly trains the police departments here in the US. Its fatal tactics that are tested on Palestinians are then used on Black and Brown folks here in the US. Therefore, by building tools for the Israeli military and investing in the further development of their weaponry and surveillance tactics, Google is also indirectly strengthening the testing grounds for bringing fatal policing tactics here to the US, impacting our Black and Brown brothers and sisters. At the end of the day, Google has a choice. Why would Google, a tech company, choose this?

Anonymous Palestinian Googler:

“Technology has the power to either expand freedoms or limit them.” This is a quote by Ahmad Abu Shammalh, a computer scientist from Gaza. Through Project Nimbus, Google has crossed a clear red line. Instead of being that tech company which used to tout its motto “don’t be evil,” Google is becoming a war profiteer, aiding in the eminent murder, surveillance, and erasure of Palestinians. Google is choosing to take a stance in being voluntarily complicit in internationally-recognized war crimes. It is absolutely shameful; there are no excuses that can be made for this. And the reality is, my own family in Palestine is going to suffer the consequences of Project Nimbus. These engineers sitting in the Silicon Valley, NYC, and other big global hubs are reaping the benefits of Nimbus at the expense of the safety, privacy, and livelihood of my own family and every other Palestinian family.

 Google has said it is possible to make money without doing evil. I know they are right and that Google can bring in that $1.2 billion in other ways: ways that will be of material benefit not only to Googlers, but also Google’s users around the world. Instead, they’ve chosen this $1.2 billion contract with a foreign government and military. They’ve chosen to silence the hundreds of Googlers who have spoken up against Nimbus, like my colleague Ariel Koren. Google is showing its workers and users what it has decided to stand for.

 There is no way I can summarize all of the detriments that this contract causes Palestinians in this short testimony. I encourage all of my fellow Googlers to do your due diligence in educating yourselves on the occupation of Palestine and the daily war crimes inflicted on Palestinians. Don’t stop there: take action when you see your company taking part in it. You have a voice and a responsibility to do something when those less privileged than you are the ones whose jobs and livelihoods are on the line.