Former Google Engineer Speaks Out: “Google Is a Weapons Contractor”

Mohammad Khatami, a former software engineer at Google, has broken his silence following his arrest and subsequent firing last year. His crime? Participating in a peaceful, worker-led sit-in demanding the tech giant cut ties with the Israeli government and end its role in what he and others describe as genocide.

Khatami, who worked at Google until 2024, was among the employees protesting the company’s $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli government under Project Nimbus — a cloud computing partnership that provides infrastructure support to a state actively engaged in the mass killing of Palestinians.

“Google has let us know loud and clear that they are a weapons contractor,” Khatami said in a public address. “They are not neutral. They are not innocent. They are enabling genocide.”

The ex-Googler’s words come amid mounting evidence that the tech company has rapidly expanded its ties with military and surveillance powers across the globe. Among them:

• Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in the U.S., where Google tech is being used to modernize surveillance towers previously developed by Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons contractor.
• The acquisition of Israeli startup Wiz, while Israel continues its military operations in Gaza.
• A cybersecurity collaboration with the UAE, which is currently supporting genocidal militias in Sudan.
• A deepening relationship with Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest weapons manufacturer, now using Google’s generative AI tools to help power missiles and targeting systems used in mass killings.

Khatami is not alone. Google workers have long called on the company to honour its public promise: “Don’t be evil.” That promise, Khatami says, is dead.

“Google once vowed never to use AI for weapons or surveillance. Instead, they doubled down. They ignored the voices of their own workers. They sided with war profiteers and criminal regimes.”

The message from inside the company is chilling. Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim employees have reported harassment, doxing, and systemic discrimination — a workplace culture that punishes dissent and protest.

Khatami and other tech workers are now calling for mass resistance.

“To anyone reading this: you can take one moment to send an email to the Google Cloud Marketing Team. Let them know you oppose the militarization of their company. Let them know we are watching. We are angry. We are organizing.”

FTS stands firmly in solidarity with Khatami and the thousands of workers around the world refusing to let their labour be used for violence, surveillance, and war.

This is what it looks like when people say: “enough“