The ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza has triggered tense, at times hostile, reckonings across American tech companies over their role in the killing. Since October 7, tech workers have agitated for greater transparency about their employers’ work for the Israeli military and at times vehemently protested those contracts.

Guidelines, endorsed by the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2011, stress that “Some operating environments, such as conflict-affected areas, may increase the risks of enterprises being complicit in gross human rights abuses committed by other actors (security forces, for example).” The document further notes that such conflict zone abuses may create corporate liability before the International Criminal Court, which in April charged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with crimes against humanity stemming from the Gaza assault. Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, which also sell technology services to the Israeli military, similarly say they subscribe to the voluntarily, nonbinding U.N. guidelines.

IBM CEO: We Listen to What Israel and Saudi Arabia Consider “Correct Behavior”