US Tech Employees Want Companies Like Amazon and Google to Sever Ties to Israel

Politico reported that the Israeli regime’s invasion of Gaza is increasing pressure on Google, Amazon and Facebook to reexamine their close ties to the Tel Aviv regime.

Tech employees have also increased pressure on the corporate giants into dropping projects with the Pentagon and are strategizing with rights activists over the best way to protest against cloud contracts with the Israeli regime, the American publication reported.

This comes when progressive Democrats are pressing the US government of President Joe Biden to take a tough stand against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s regime.

Last summer, Palestinian-rights activists convinced some 800 companies to join an advertising boycott of Facebook over its controversial policies on hate speech and misinformation. The industry’s critics say Silicon Valley cannot ignore the Palestinian debate.

“What’s happening right now is a broader reckoning within the technology industry about its involvement in Israel,” said one Google employee involved in organizing efforts at the company. “Technology companies are heavily embedded in Israel and benefit greatly from being in Israel, and it’s time for tech companies to acknowledge and come to terms with, and hopefully redress, the human rights violations that they are benefiting from.”

Jack Poulson, a former Google research scientist who resigned in protest three years ago over the search giant’s policies, said he sees a “significant likelihood” that the companies could cancel their contracts with the Israeli regime if tech workers and civil rights activists continue to mobilize earnestly on the issue.

He revealed that Google cancelled an artificial intelligence contract with the Pentagon three years ago amid employee pressure. Microsoft also suspended work with Israeli firm AnyVision following pressure from employees, and activists in 2020.