Indian Engineer Quits Microsoft in Solidarity with Gaza
Fania Agrawal, a software engineer, was terminated after publicly condemning Microsoft’s contract with the Israeli military and accusing the company of aiding war crimes in Gaza.
Watan-Fania Agrawal is an American software engineer of Indian descent, born in the United States in 1997. She studied software engineering at Arizona State University from 2016 to 2019, graduating with honors.
She worked in the Artificial Intelligence division at Microsoft in 2023 and became involved in protests organized by the internal campaign “No Azure for Apartheid,” launched by Microsoft employees in May 2024. The campaign advocated for ethical technology use and opposed the company’s provision of services to the Israeli military.
During Microsoft’s 50th-anniversary celebration—attended by three CEOs—Agrawal disrupted a panel discussion in protest of the company’s involvement in supplying AI and cloud computing services to the Israeli military amid the ongoing genocidal war on Gaza, which began in October 2023.
Immediately after her protest, she sent a message to her colleagues explaining her stance and announcing her resignation, planned for April 11. However, on April 7, 2025, the company sent her an email notifying her of her termination.
Early Life and Education
Fania Agrawal was born in 1997 in the United States to Indian parents. She studied at Arizona State University from 2016 to 2019 and earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science, specializing in software engineering, graduating with high honors.
She was awarded the prestigious Grace Hopper Scholarship—given to only 35 students at her university—which allowed her to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration in 2017, one of the world’s leading conferences focused on women in technology and computing.
Professional Journey
Fania started her career early. In 2012, she managed a small Etsy store called “Fanushka,” selling handmade products. In 2014, she briefly worked as a pharmacy technician, and the following year as a social media consultant for a tea company. In 2016, she was a medical assistant at a clinic in Illinois.
In 2018, she interned as a software developer at Amazon, where she was later hired full-time in September 2019 and worked until October 2022.
In September 2023, she joined Microsoft as a software engineer in the AI division. She became active in the “No Azure for Apartheid” campaign—an internal movement started in May 2024 to protest the company’s $133 million contract with the Israeli Ministry of Defense for cloud and AI services.
The Protest Against Microsoft
On April 4, 2025, during Microsoft’s 50th-anniversary celebration at the Redmond campus, Agrawal interrupted a panel discussion featuring Bill Gates, Satya Nadella, and Steve Ballmer—all former or current Microsoft CEOs—and shouted:“Shame on all of you! You are all hypocrites! Fifty thousand Palestinians have been killed in Gaza using Microsoft technology. How dare you celebrate with Israel while it sheds their blood?” Security promptly removed her from the venue.
She then emailed a resignation letter to her colleagues:“Hi everyone, I’m Fania. After a year and a half as a software engineer here, I’ve decided to leave Microsoft. My last day will be Friday, April 11. You may have seen me earlier standing up during Satya’s speech to speak out. Here’s why I’m leaving.”
Agrawal said she could no longer work for a company that she believed enabled Israel’s crimes against humanity. She referenced AP reports detailing Microsoft’s role in supporting Israeli apartheid and genocide in Gaza.
“It begs the question: Who are we empowering with our technology? Apartheid enforcers? War criminals? Over time, I’ve found it increasingly difficult to devote my time, energy, and attention to a company on the wrong side of history.” “Quitting became the only option. I saw no better use of my final days at Microsoft than to raise my voice—through both protest and this email.”
She called on Microsoft’s leadership to divest from Israel and stop selling lethal technology to support apartheid and genocide. “If leaving Microsoft isn’t an option for you, I urge you to use your position, power, and privilege to hold Microsoft accountable to its values.”
She encouraged her colleagues to sign the petition “No Azure for Apartheid: We won’t build killing software” and join the growing internal movement.
Following her protest, Agrawal’s employee access was revoked without any official explanation, and on April 7, 2025, she received an email confirming her dismissal.
