U.S. tech giants’ vise over Israel tightens despite ceasefire

The aftermath of this month’s violence in the Gaza Strip is deepening the pressure on Google, Amazon and Facebook to reexamine their close ties to Israel — an effort that comes amid a broader reckoning over the militarization of the U.S. tech industry.

Tech employees who previously pressured the corporate behemoths into dropping projects with the Pentagon and China are strategizing with outside activists over the best way to agitate against cloud contracts with the Israeli government. They’re considering a range of options, including cajoling shareholders and circulating letters to the companies' CEOs, something employees at Amazon and Google did in the past week.

The rising tension within the tech industry comes at a time of deepened polarization in Washington over the Israelis and Palestinians, with liberal Democrats pressing for a harder line against Benjamin Netanyahu’s government while Republicans accuse President Joe Biden of refusing to stand behind a long-time U.S. ally. That divide worsens the already fraught domestic political implications for the U.S. tech giants, which also face scrutiny over social media’s role in a reported rise in antisemitic incidents tied to the Mideast violence.

So far, the Palestinian-rights movement hasn’t generated the kind of groundswell that hammered Facebook over civil rights last summer, when 800 companies joined an advertising boycott over its policies on hate speech and misinformation. But the industry’s critics say Silicon Valley cannot dodge the Palestinian debate, even as a more than week-old ceasefire between Israel and Hamas holds on.