A Google worker who publicly opposed a company contract with the Israeli military has resigned from her position citing retaliation from her employer.
Ariel Koren, a product marketing manager at Google for Education who has worked at the tech company for more than seven years, explained the situation her a Medium post.
“Due to retaliation, a hostile environment, and illegal actions by the company, I cannot continue to work at Google and have no choice but to leave the company at the end of this week,” wrote Koren. “Instead of listening to employees who want Google to live up to its ethical principles, Google is aggressively pursuing military contracts and stripping away the voices of its employees through a pattern of silencing and retaliation towards me and many others.”
Koren’s activism targeted Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract between Google, Amazon Web Services, and Israel that helped provide cloud services to the country’s military and government. In October 2021 Koren drafted a public letter criticizing the agreement. “We cannot look the other way, as the products we build are used to deny Palestinians their basic rights, force Palestinians out of their homes and attack Palestinians in the Gaza Strip – actions that have prompted war crime investigations by the international criminal court,” it read. “We envision a future where technology brings people together and makes life better for everyone. To build that brighter future, the companies we work for need to stop contracting with any and all militarized organizations in the US and beyond.”
Hundreds of workers at Google and Amazon signed the letter.
Koren said that Google gave her an ultimatum the following month: either relocate to the company’s Brazil office or be fired. The move prompted Koren to file a complaint with Google’s human resources department and unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). A petition supporting Koren was circulated at time and it was signed by more than 25,000 people.
Google has publicly stated that they investigated the complaint and found no evidence of retaliation. Koren says the company’s HR team eventually admitted to her that the demand had been “improper and harmful”, but still refused to acknowledge that it came in response to her activism.
In her Medium post Koren, who is Jewish, also says that Google has “sustained a culture of silencing anti-Zionist Jews and creating toxic and unjust conditions for Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim workers.”
“Anti-Zionist Jews at Google will not stop speaking out against Israel’s injustices against Palestinians; but we acknowledge our privilege to do so safely while our Palestinian colleagues and friends are not afforded the same privilege to feel safe and be heard,” she wrote. “Our Palestinian colleagues deserve better than this; our Palestinian users deserve better than this. The general public deserves better than this.”
In a YouTube video fifteen other Google employees posted testimonials about the company’s treatment of Palestinians, policies of censorship, and acts of retaliation. “Working at Google was always my dream job until I learned about Project Nimbus,” reads one testimonial. “I feel like I am making my living off the oppression of my family back home.”
“As a Palestinian, my feelings of marginalization only grew when I began seeing my coworkers issued warnings just for having empathy for Palestinians,” says another employee.
One worker says that they’re now “ashamed” to work for Google as a result of Project Nimbus.
A New York Times article on Koren’s resignation references “Google’s growing reputation for punishing employees who are publicly critical of the company is a notable change for an employer that once nourished an outspoken workplace culture.”
In November 2019 Google fired five workers over organizing. The NLRB filed a complaint against the company saying two of those firings had been illegal and that they had spied on multiple employees.
Koren’s medium post also calls on readers to take action. She asks people to pressure the company to drop Project Nimbus, join the “No Tech for Apartheid” campaign, and amplify Palestinian voices. “Don’t be complacent or apathetic; take responsibility for your company and how your labor is used,” Koren writes.
Jewish Google worker writes letter saying she’s quitting, accuses the company of ‘creating an environment of fear’ for employees who support Palestine (yahoo.com)
Kudos to Ariel Koren who accused Google of ‘complicity in violations of Palestinian human rights.’
“A Jewish Google employee, she wrote a letter saying she’s leaving the company because of alleged retaliation. She accused Google of ‘complicity in violations of Palestinian human rights.’ Google has a billion-dollar contract with Amazon and the Israeli government and military.
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MUST READ!!
Israeli Ex-Diplomat Says Growing Acknowledgement of Apartheid ‘Must Be Wakeup Call’ (commondreams.org)
“Israeli Ex-Diplomat Says Growing Acknowledgement of Apartheid ‘Must Be Wakeup Call'” By Brett Wilkins, August 26/2022“Former negotiator of Oslo Accords warns that increasing use of the word ‘apartheid’ to describe Israel’s mistreatment & control of the Palestinian people has deep implications. Two Israeli ex-diplomats late this week publicly criticized their government’s apartheid policies against Palestinians, with one former negotiator of the Oslo Accords calling the growing use of the word around the world a ‘wakeup call’ that must not be ignored.
“Speaking Thursday at a United Nations Security Council session examining the long-term impacts of maintaining the status quo in illegally occupied Palestine, the former Oslo negotiator, Daniel Levy—who now heads the U.S./Middle East Project—said that denying basic human rights to Palestinians ‘will never be a recipe for achieving sustainable security.’
“‘We know of certain developments that can at the same time be both politically uncomfortable & politically salient,’ he added. ‘The increasingly weighty body of scholarly, legal, & public opinion that has designated Israel to be perpetrating apartheid in the territories under its control is just such a development.’
“‘A designation made by Palestinian scholars & institutes, later examined by & endorsed by the Israeli human rights community led by B’Tselem, has now become the legal designation made by Human Rights Watch & this year by Amnesty International,’ Levy said.
“Many Palestinians & individuals ranging from the late South African bishop & human rights campaigner Desmond Tutu to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to United Nations special rapporteurs have for decades called Israel’s policies & actions in Palestine apartheid.
“In recent years, a growing number of politicians, local & regional governments, civil society organizations, religious groups, artists, academics, journalists, & others around the world have spoken out against the crime of Israeli apartheid.” (cont’d)
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These include an increasing number of Israelis & Jews outside Israel, including in the U.S where a 2021 Jewish Electoral Institute survey found that 1 in 4 American Jews believes Israel is an apartheid state.
“Noting that numerous African, Arab, & other U.N. member states ‘all referenced this apartheid situation,’ Levy contended that ‘it will come as little surprise if this echoes & resonates in parts of the world that have experienced apartheid & settler colonialism & have gone through decolonization.’
“‘It is a paradigm that will also bring the discrimination faced by Palestinian citizens of Israel into sharper relief,’ ‘It must be a wakeup call.’
“Levy wasn’t alone in sounding the alarm on Israeli apartheid this week. In an interview with Ben Lynfield published by Plus 61J Media on Friday, former Israeli diplomat Alon Liel—who served in South Africa during the rule of that country’s Israeli-backed apartheid regime—said Israel’s designation of 6 Palestinian civil society groups as terrorist organizations followed a familiar pattern. “‘It brings me back to apartheid South Africa & I am ashamed. These are my memories of South Africa, the chasing of the people of the struggle,’ added Liel, who last year joined another former Israeli ambassador to South Africa, Ilan Baruch, in condemning Israeli apartheid.
“Liel added that ‘if there were governments calling their ambassadors back to Europe for consultations, Israel would behave differently. But nothing like this is happening.’
“‘As long as the Europeans don’t take concrete measures on the diplomatic, security, & economic level, Israel doesn’t give a damn,’ he said. ‘It feels very confident that this anti-human rights behavior will have no cost politically in the international arena. The former diplomat added that Israel’s policies & actions will eventually have negative consequences.’ “‘The demolition of houses, transfer in Masafer Yatta, the arrests, the blockade [of Gaza], all of this is accumulating,”‘ ‘And then there are the killings. We have an average of one Palestinian killed a day. Hundreds are killed every year, whether it’s from an operation in Gaza or the routine operations & daily clashes.’ “‘This aggressive behavior, without any real threat or existential threat, will further affect the image of Israel, making it seen as a trigger-happy country…”