Tech giant Microsoft promotes donations to illegal West Bank settlements while excluding UNRWA: Report

By Esra Tekin

ISTANBUL (AA) - Microsoft's charitable giving platform has featured organizations based in illegal Israeli settlements, including one that supports the Israeli military, while removing the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), prompting an internal petition from employees calling for policy changes.

Recently, Microsoft employees circulated a petition demanding that the company halt matching donations to the Ma'aleh Adumim Foundation, Ein Prat Academy for Leadership, and the Megilot Dead Sea Rescue Team, claiming that these organizations “are in direct violation of international law” under the Geneva Conventions.

"Microsoft is directly funding these illegal and immoral settlements by allowing these organizations to remain," the petition said, asking the company to halt matching donations to the three organizations, according to a report published on Drop Site News, an online media outlet.

"This is not only unethical, but also goes against our inclusive values as a company,” it added.

Microsoft has not commented on the claims, and as of Tuesday, the West Bank charities were still listed on the Benevity platform, where employees can donate to non-profit organizations and receive matching contributions from their employer.

The three organizations named in the Microsoft employees' petition describe themselves on their websites as being actively involved in the occupation.

The Ma'aleh Adumim Foundation aims to "promote and improve the cultural and social welfare of the residents of the city of Ma’aleh Adumim, Israel and its environs," according to its official documents.

Situated just outside Jerusalem, the settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim is a particularly contentious one that some analysts argue impedes the two-state solution by physically obstructing the creation of a contiguous Palestinian state in the West Bank, the report noted.

Another organization that Microsoft supports through donations is the Ein Prat Academy, which describes itself as a "pre-military leadership" program for Israeli youth.

Its fundraising materials state that the academy's mission is "training Israel’s next generation of IDF (Israel Defense Forces) officers and commanders of the highest caliber," and note that it is "the sole pre-military institution with a formal agreement with the IDF."

Located in the West Bank settlement of Kfar Adumim, the academy is listed on Benevity as a "volunteering organization who helps and supports anyone who got lost/wounded or any other problem in Judea desert area."

Hossam Nasr, a software engineer at Microsoft, said: "Microsoft has aided, abetted, and even accelerated this genocide by continuing to sell (Microsoft's cloud computing platform) Azure services to the Israeli military, while disregarding and suppressing internal employee dissent and silencing Palestinian, Arab, and pro-Palestinian employees," according to the report.

"It is as disappointing as it is unsurprising that Microsoft would withhold funding to UNRWA, the most crucial organization providing humanitarian support to Palestinians, while at the same time helping fund settlement projects that are universally recognized as being in violation of international law,” he added.