Amazon appears to have a serious problem with anti-Semitism among its employees, and the anti-free speech company is seemingly refusing to acknowledge it.
The Washington Post gave airtime to Arab Amazon employees who are demanding that their company break off contracts with Israel. The company avoided any honest admission of the anti-Semitism problem in a statement provided to the outlet, which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. “Arab employees at Amazon say harassment is increasing as support grows for their bid to kill a cloud computing contract with Israel,” the Post trumpeted, but no clear evidence of harassment was provided and The Post also provided no acknowledgment that anti-Israel activism could intimidate Jewish employees.
Some Amazon employees that attended an “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People” claimed to feel “intimidated” because, as The Post put it, their “celebration” was interrupted by fliers with images of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas. The Post, meanwhile, also trumpeted quotes from Amazon employees who falsely accused Israel of apartheid (there is no occupation or apartheid). There was no acknowledgment by The Post that Hamas recently violated the ceasefire by firing rockets at Israel, according to The Times of Israel.
While Amazon has not broken its contract with Israel’s government cloud computing Project Nimbus, the Big Tech company appeared to avoid honest discussion of its employees apparent anti-Semitism problem in a statement provided to The Post. “We don’t tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind in the workplace,” Amazon spokesman Rob Munoz vaguely rambled. “We investigate all reported incidents of such behavior and take appropriate action against any employee who is found to have violated our policies, up to and including termination.”
Regarding Project Nimbus, Munoz babbled that Amazon “is focused on making the benefits of our world-leading cloud technology available to all our customers, wherever they are located.” The petition from 1,700 Amazon employees reportedly screeched that, “Amazon is bolstering the artificial intelligence and surveillance capabilities of the Israeli military used to repress Palestinian activists and impose a brutal siege on Gaza.”
“Blame the petition drive if your Amazon packages arrive late. The leaders of this effort probably spent more time gathering signatures than doing their jobs,” said Dan Schneider, MRC Vice President for Free Speech. “We advocate for free speech rights, including for those who spout heinous beliefs. America is a wonderful place and so is Israel. Maybe the petition signers will learn this one day.”
While The Post cited Arab employees claiming that they face mounting harassment, the only evidence provided was the apparent interruption of the solidarity event and argument online about Palestinian jihad. There was no mention of the negativity Jewish employees might be receiving from the anti-Israel activists. “There’s such tension between Arabs and Jewish employees right now,” one employee told The Post.
Amazon is not the only Big Tech company with an apparent anti-Semitism problem. Google’s AI Bard refused in October to provide honest information on Hamas. In addition, Google reassigned its head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Kamau Bobb, after he posted on social media that “Jews have an insatiable appetite for war.” TikTok boasted in October about removing over 500,000 videos about the Hamas-Israel conflict, with the Chinese government-tied app reportedly targeting anti-Hamas videos.
MRC Free Speech America Assistant Editor Luis Cornelio contributed to this report.
Conservatives are under attack. Call Amazon at 1 (888) 280-4331 and demand that it mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
