Google fires employee for opposing $1 billion Israeli project

• Ariel Koren was forced to resign after she objected to a $1 billion agreement involving Google, Amazon, the Israeli government, and the military.
• She claimed that Google is increasingly favoring military contracts while also silencing employees who disagree with them.
• Google CEO and Youtube CEO issued emails expressing sympathy for Israelis but little concern for the oppressed Palestinians.

Ariel Koren, a Google employee, was forced to resign after she objected to a $1 billion agreement involving Google, Amazon, the Israeli government, and the military.

According to reports, Ms. Koren took offense at Google’s $1.2 billion Project Nimbus deal with Amazon and Google to provide Israel’s military with artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and other computing services.

She stated that because of her disagreement, the world’s largest search engine created a hostile environment and engaged in criminal activity, leaving her with no choice but to resign.

She claimed in her blog post that Google is increasingly favoring military contracts while also silencing employees who disagree with them.

I am leaving @Google this week due to retaliation & hostility against workers who speak out. Google moved my role overseas immediately after I opposed its $1B AI/surveillance contracts with Israel. And this is far from an isolated instance.https://t.co/V4y05kOYQv pic.twitter.com/eRMrzTPYfb

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— Ariel Koren (@ariel_koko) August 30, 2022

She accused Google of abusing its Employee Resource Groups (ERG) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) structures to support its behavior.

Additionally, she claimed that Google purposefully silences Palestinian, Jewish, Arab, and Muslim employees concerned about the company’s complicity in Palestinian human rights crimes. The company then creates a scary environment for them.

According to Koren, the corporation was able to protect its financial interests with the Israeli military and government by silencing the voices in this way.

She has urged Googlers (Google Workers) to find out more about Project Nimbus and take counteractions.

She also posted a video of Palestinian Google employees and their supporters criticizing the initiative.

She also disclosed that although the Jewglers, an internal Jewish support group, were created to represent Jews and combat any form of prejudice against them, they have instead been used as a vehicle to propagate right-wing ideologies under the guise of promoting diversity.

Exploiting the ERG structure has silenced numerous Googlers who were speaking out in favor of Palestine’s freedom.

The corporation uses this structure to deflect questions and concerns about its ties to the Israeli government.

Ms. Koren added that even though Israel received harsh condemnation for its airstrikes in Gaza in May 2021 that claimed the lives of 250 Palestinians, including 60 children, the Jewglers insisted that the company’s executives show their support for Israel.

As a result, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Youtube CEO Susan Wojcicki issued emails expressing sympathy for Israelis but little concern for the oppressed Palestinians.

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