Some excerpts from Judge Jesse Furman (S.D.N.Y.) Wednesday in Skaf v. Google LLC:
Skaf, an Arab woman, was employed by Google from January 12, 2009, to April 17, 2024….
On October 7, 2023, Hamas and its affiliates in the Gaza Strip launched a terrorist attack on Israel, prompting Israel to attack Hamas in turn. In the wake of these events, Skaf was an outspoken critic of Google's involvement with Israel and, the Complaint alleges, was "increasingly subjected to anti-Arab bias." But Skaf's criticisms of Google for its involvement with Israel long predated the events on and after October 7, 2023.
In May 2021, Google won the bid for Israel's "Project Nimbus, a contract to provide cloud computing infrastructure, artificial intelligence and other technology services to the Israeli government and its military, including and [sic] Israeli military efforts in the occupied territories." At or around the time, Skaf "raised concerns" about whether Project Nimbus adhered to Google's "AI Principles"—which provided, among other things, that Google would not design or deploy artificial intelligence technologies "whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people" or "whose purpose contravenes widely accepted principles of international law and human rights." "[I]n response, Google informally flagged" Skaf, but it did not "officially reprimand[ ]" her. In October 2021, Skaf signed a "drop Nimbus petition."
On October 12, 2023, five days after the Hamas attack, Google's Internal Community Management Team ("ICMT")—an entity responsible for moderating content in accordance with Google's Community Guidelines—advised that employees "should avoid discussing the events unfolding in Israel/Palestine" and limit any posts on the subject to "support of their colleagues." On December 4, 2023, Skaf brought a message on an internal messaging platform stating that "Israel will prevail" to the attention of the ICMT. The ICMT emailed Skaf that the post "was not in violation of community guidelines and would not be taken down"—apparently because it had been made before October 12, 2023, and was "grandfathered in."
Shortly thereafter, Skaf asked the ICMT if that meant she could post a meme of a Palestinian flag stating "Palestine will prevail." When she did not receive a response, she posted the meme the very next day. The ICMT promptly removed Skaf's post as "'disruptive' and in violation of" the October 12, 2023 guidance, and temporarily banned her from the internal messaging platform.
Around the same time, Skaf started posting about Project Nimbus and Gaza in another internal Google forum. Through her involvement with these platforms, Skaf allegedly became aware that "many Google employees held anti-Arab animus." One colleague, for instance, asked "why Palestinians bothered to have children." … Skaf [also alleges she] later learned that Google employees were doxxed, stalked, or accused of supporting terrorism because they had spoken out against Project Nimbus or worn a "keffiyeh (Palestinian scarf)" to the office ….
On March 6, 2024, Skaf published a post asking whether Google should cancel Project Nimbus "[t]o avoid complicity in war crimes [and] respect its principles." In response, some colleagues posted memes accusing Skaf "of 'ruining International Women's Day … with her predictably hateful agenda'" or "accusing her of 'supporting terrorists who use sexual violence as a weapon of war.'" Skaf complained to the ICMT, which took down "some but not all of the attacks on her."
On March 8, 2024, Skaf received an email from Google Security notifying her that she had been "doxxed" by having her name, work location, and internal Google profile picture included in a Daily Wire press article. The article included screenshots of Skaf's questions and comments from the internal Google messaging systems about Israel. Shortly thereafter, on March 14, 2026, Skaf filed a complaint with Google's Employee Relations ("ER") about being doxxed and "the racial and/or ethnic harassment, she had suffered since October 7, 2023." Google failed to respond to the complaint or take any corrective action. More significantly, the Complaint alleges that Skaf was the victim of "immediate" retaliation for making her complaint to ER. Specifically, an ongoing discussion of possible transfer—which would have provided Skaf with opportunity for further advancement and promotion—was "abandon[ed]."
In late March 2024, Skaf participated in planning a sit-in protest "demanding the cancellation of Project Nimbus, that Google address the harassment, intimidation, bullying, silencing, and censorship of Palestinian, Arab, Muslim employees and that Google address the mental health crisis among Google employees caused by Project Nimbus." The protest took place on April 16, 2024, in Google's offices in New York, Sunnyvale, and Seattle. In New York, Skaf and others sat on the 10th floor of Google's offices, where they "peacefully distributed leaflets" and "gave speeches" to oppose Project Nimbus and the harassment of Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian employees. Other employees "harassed and filmed" Skaf and her fellow protestors. That conduct violated Google's Code of Conduct, but the employees who engaged in it were not disciplined by Google in any way.
At some point, Google security appeared at the protest. Skaf and the other organizers "constructively engaged with them, quieting the protest, [and] ensuring that they were not blocking the lounge or disturbing others using the space." The next day, Google terminated Skaf's employment, explaining that a review of her conduct on April 16, 2024, determined that she had violated Google's workplace policies. Skaf was one of fifty Google employees terminated after participating in the April 16, 2024 protest….
