Scapegoat or simple departure? That is what many are wondering after Microsoft's announcement that its general manager in Israel would be leaving the company.
In a blog post titled “Israel Subsidiary Leadership Changes” last week, Microsoft said that Alon Haimovich would be "stepping down" at the end of the month.
"During his tenure, Microsoft Israel became one of the three fastest-growing countries within its peer countries cluster across the company, achieved a number of standout milestones and drove a shift toward Frontier AI leadership," the company's statement read.
Yet No Azure for Apartheid (Noaa), a group founded by former Microsoft employees that has campaigned against the company's contracts with Israel, said the company was trying to sweep its actions under the rug.
Noaa in a statement accused Mr Haimovich of overseeing the development of Azure tools for the Israeli military, "which helped accelerate the first AI-powered genocide."
Mr Haimovich did not immediately respond to The National's request for comment.
Noaa's emailed statement linked to various stories sourcing an 2025 investigation by The Guardian and +972 Magazine.
That report led to Microsoft carrying out internal reviews, which found that Israel's military and intelligence agency had breached Microsoft's terms of use agreement and used the company's software to collect millions of civilian phone calls in Gaza and the West Bank, among other things.
Microsoft's findings led to it disabling several services it previously allowed Israel's military to use.
A report last week in The Guardian alleged that Microsoft's announcement of Mr Haimovich's departure was connected to the company's continuing internal review of how its tools were used in Israel.
Other sources from Microsoft's Israel offices were dismissed as well, the report said.
Noaa said Microsoft has not gone far enough in accepting responsibility.
"We refuse to allow Microsoft to scapegoat one or a handful of individuals to wipe its hands clean off its complicity in genocide," the group's statement read.
It said the Redmond, Washington-based company should "answer the workers’ demands to end this collusion and cut off all ties with the Israeli military and government immediately".
A public relations firm representing Microsoft told The National that the tech giant would not be sharing anything beyond the original statement posted to its website.
Noaa first gained attention in 2025, when one of its protesters, who also was a former Microsoft employee, interrupted a corporate anniversary event and shouted at the company's then-head of AI, Mustafa Suleyman.
Videos posted on social media showed the protester shouting from the audience that Mr Suleyman was a war profiteer, and that Microsoft was complicit in Israel's attacks on Gaza that killed tens of thousands of people.
Mr Suleyman responded, “Thank you for your protest. I hear you, I hear your protest,” while the demonstrator was escorted from the event.
Hours before Mr Suleyman's presentation, Noaa organised demonstrations throughout Microsoft's campus, with many of the protesters criticising the company's contracts with Israel.
Demonstrations popped up in the months that followed.
At one point, a group of protesters entered offices of Microsoft's US executives, prompting the company's vice chairman and president Brad Smith to give an impromptu news conference.
Mr Smith addressed Microsoft's internal investigation that “found evidence that supports elements” of The Guardian's reports.
According to Mr Haimovich's LinkedIn profile, he joined Microsoft in Israel in 2019.
He is also chairman of Friends of Summit Institute, an "Israeli non-profit organisation dedicated to providing critical services for at-risk children".
Previously, Mr Haimovich spent 12 years at Cisco in Israel as a regional sales and a systems engineering manager. Microsoft shared the departure letter sent to his colleagues.
"We accelerated cloud and AI adoption, launched local cloud infrastructure, strengthened our cybersecurity work, and reinforced Microsoft’s role as the strategic platform for startups across Israel," it read.
