April 4 (Reuters) - Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa

Suleyman's remarks were interrupted by a pro-Palestinian

protesting employee during the technology company's 50th

anniversary celebration on Friday over the firm's ties with

Israel.

"You are a war profiteer. Stop using AI for genocide,"

Microsoft ( MSFT ) employee Ibtihal Aboussad said at the event in

Redmond, Washington, while interrupting Suleyman who was talking

about the company's artificial intelligence assistant product.

Suleyman responded by saying: "I hear your protest, thank

you." The protesting employee was then escorted away.

An investigation by The Associated Press revealed earlier

this year that AI models from Microsoft ( MSFT ) and OpenAI were used as

part of an Israeli military program to select bombing targets

during its wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

Various other firms and educational institutions have also

faced protests over their ties with Israel as the humanitarian

crisis in Gaza from Israel's military assault has mounted.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian

conflict was triggered in October 2023, when Palestinian

Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking

about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's subsequent assault on Hamas-governed Gaza has

killed over 50,000 Palestinians, according to Gazan health

officials, while also triggering accusations of genocide and war

crimes that Israel denies. The assault has internally displaced

nearly Gaza's entire 2.3 million population and caused a hunger

crisis.

The Verge tech news website quoted an email that Aboussad,

the protesting employee, sent to other Microsoft ( MSFT ) employees

justifying her protest.

Microsoft ( MSFT ) said it provided many avenues for all voices to be

heard in a way that does not cause business interruption.

Aboussad was cited by AP to be saying that she and another

protesting employee lost access to their work accounts after the

protest.