What Is Project Nimbus that Google Employees Are Protesting?

Google is in the headlines for firing its 28 employees for protesting against its USD 1.2 billion “Project Nimbus” deal with Israel. The employees stormed the company's headquarters in New York City and Sunnyvale, California, before staging a live-streaming sit-in protest on various social media platforms, including X, formerly Twitter.

The protestors, who were part of the pro-Palestine No Tech For Apartheid group, were forcibly arrested by the police from both premises. 

BREAKING: Google employees were arrested after occupying their boss's office for more than 8 hours to demand that the company sever ties with Israel.

WATCH: pic.twitter.com/W4WQO8NNgH

— Kassy Akiva (@KassyDillon) April 17, 2024

What Is Project Nimbus?  

People wonder what exactly is Google’s Project Nimbus and why it is so controversial. Project Nimbus is Google's cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) computing contract with the Benjamin Netanyahu-led Israeli government. The project is learned to be worth USD 2 billion. 

Also Read | Google sacks 28 employees involved in protests over Israel govt contract.

Project Nimbus sees Google’s Cloud division, along with partner Amazon Web Services (AWS), providing AI and cloud computing infrastructure to the Israeli government. The deal is therefore perceived to support the Israeli army and Israel Defence Force (IDF) by connection as it is currently engaged in an ongoing conflict against Hamas in Gaza strip.

At least 30,000 were killed in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, with many people (including many Israelis) critical of Israel’s reluctance to cease its offensive.

Google Employees Protest

BREAKING—DOZENS OF @GOOGLE WORKERS LEAD HISTORIC COAST TO COAST-INS AT @GOOGLECLOUD CEO THOMAS KURIAN’S OFFICE IN SUNNYVALE & @GOOGLE’s NYC 10TH FLOOR COMMONS. They refuse to leave until @google stops powering the genocide in Gaza

LIVESTREAM: https://t.co/uUiPbr3oDzpic.twitter.com/vCkInh0769

— No Tech For Apartheid (@NoTechApartheid) April 16, 2024

It is learned that the Israeli Ministry of Defense has its own “landing zone” in Google Cloud, which would allow the ministry to store and process data and access AI operations safely, reported by TIME, quoting a Google document it has access to.

It is also learned that in the contract dated March 27, 2024, the Israeli ministry sought consulting assistance from Google to expand its Google Cloud access, seeking to allow “multiple units” to access automation technologies. It also showed Google billing the Israeli Ministry of Defense more than USD 1 million for the consulting service.

The tech giant also gave the ministry a 15% discount on the original price of consulting fees due to the “Nimbus framework,” TIME reported.

Meanwhile, about 90 workers at Google and more than 300 employees at Amazon wrote to The Guardian in 2021 -- when Project Nimbus was finalised -- and shared their fear of the technology allowing Israel to increase "surveillance of and unlawful data collection on Palestinians, and facilitates expansion of Israel’s illegal settlements on Palestinian land."

In a company memo, Google VP of Global Security Chris Rackow said the behaviour of protestors was “unacceptable, extremely disruptive and made co-workers feel threatened.”

He added that it violated multiple company policies and that the company was continuing to “investigate and take action as needed,” confirming the termination  of the contracts of “twenty-eight employees found to be involved.”