Core Points - Microsoft President Brad Smith defended the termination of employees involved in protests related to Gaza while announcing an investigation into allegations of Israeli military misuse of Azure for surveillance [1][4]. - The company fired four employees after protests occupied Smith's office and campus facilities, including Azure Storage engineer Riki Fameli, who criticized the company's protest policies [2][3]. - Microsoft has engaged law firm Covington & Burling to investigate claims that Israeli Defense Forces used Azure for mass surveillance of Palestinians, acknowledging that new information was revealed in a recent report [4][5]. Industry Context - The protests at Microsoft are part of broader tensions in Silicon Valley regarding defense contracts, with other companies like Palantir Technologies facing similar activist pressures [6]. - Amazon and Alphabet are also under scrutiny for their involvement in a $1.2 billion cloud computing contract with the Israeli government, highlighting the growing activism against tech companies' defense-related contracts [6].