>> Why on earth would a for profit company refuse a potential line of profit?
On the one hand I think they were afraid many of their employees might protest again like they have in the past, signaling that Google isn't that awesome, progressive place everybody should work. This would mean they could be potentially losing some of the top notch SV talent that they are in constant competition with from other companies.
On the other hand, they've made it clear they aren't above firing employees who do protest as they just did when 28 employees were fired over the recent Nimbus Project contract worth an estimated $1.2B dollars with Israel:
They staged sit-in protests in Google's offices in Silicon Valley, New York City and Seattle – more than 100 protestors showed up. A day later, Google fired Montes and 27 other employees who are part of the No Tech for Apartheid group.
https://www.npr.org/2024/04/19/1245757317/google-worker-fire...
I think they try too hard to tow the line between the two, but like you said, its clear they're really all about the money.