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Google employee forced to resign after accusing company of suppressing Palestinians, online uproar
LONDON: A Google employee was reportedly forced to resign after accusing the company of trying to silence Palestinian employees.
Ariel Koren, a marketing manager for Google’s education products division, announced his resignation on Twitter after seven years at the tech giant.
She posted a memo on the blogging platform Medium, claiming the company was trying to retaliate against her activism and support for her Palestinian colleagues.
“Because of retaliation, the hostile environment, and the company’s illegal behavior, I am unable to continue working at Google and have no choice but to leave the company this weekend,” she said in the letter.
“Instead of listening to employees wanting Google to adhere to its ethical principles, Google aggressively pursued military contracts and deprived employees of their voices through silence and retaliation against me and many others.”
Supporters of Koren took to social media to express their uproar and criticize the tech giant.
The controversy arose when Koren and other colleagues opposed Google’s $1.2 billion deal with Amazon and the Israeli military for a program called “Project Nimbus.”
As part of the plan, the two tech giants will provide Israel and its military with artificial intelligence tools and other computing services and technologies that Keren believes will be used to monitor and harm Palestinians.
After months of protests to persuade Google to back out of the deal — including internal petitions, lobbying executives, and public interviews with newspapers and TV shows — Keren received an ultimatum from the company telling her to either move to Sao Paulo, Brazil, or lose her Work.
Curran, who decided to file a complaint with the company and the National Labor Relations Board, accused Google of trying to divert her because of her actions, but the investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing.
“We prohibit retaliation in the workplace and share our very clear policies publicly,” Google said in a statement. “We thoroughly investigate the employee’s claim, as we do when we raise any questions.”
On Tuesday, 15 more Google employees shared their experiences anonymously, criticizing the company’s treatment of Palestinians and employees who advocate for the cause, accusing the company of unfairly enforcing its content moderation rules and creating double standards.
The six Palestinians, who asked not to be named, said through their colleagues that it was not safe for them to express their opinions at the company.
“I have always witnessed Google, instead of supporting diverse employees who wanted to make Google a more ethical company, systematically silenced Palestinian, Jewish, Arab and Muslim voices about Google’s complicity in violating Palestinian human rights — even formally retaliating against workers and Create an environment of fear,” Curran said in her post.
“In my experience, suppressing dialogue and dissent in this way helps Google protect its commercial interests with the Israeli military and government,” she added.
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