Google Employees Call for Company to Support Free Expression

A group of Jewish employees at Google is reportedly calling for the company to increase its support of Palestinians and to protect anti-Israel speech, among other demands.

The Verge reports that a group of Jewish Google employees is calling on the tech giant to increase its support of Palestinians amid increased conflict in Gaza. In an internal letter, Google workers asked CEO Sundar Pichai to put out a statement condemning the attacks, including “direct recognition of the harm done to Palestinians by Israeli military and gang violence.”

A public version of the employee letter can be found here. The request is coming from a new employee resource group that formed last year in response to a pro-Zionist element within the company’s “Jewglers” group. The group has largely remained apolitical but two current workers allege that it has supported pro-Israel discussions and is not a “safe space” to express anti-Zionist beliefs.

This difference in opinions led to the formation of “Jewish Diaspora in Tech,” a group of Jewish anti-nationalists within Google. A product marketing manager in the group stated: “We were compelled to form our own space because of the fact that we were quite literally not allowed to express our viewpoints in the ERG.”

Members of the new organization are now calling on Google to support their right to express anti-Zionist viewpoints within the company. “Google is the world’s largest search engine and any repression of freedom of expression occurring within the company is a danger not only to Googlers internally but to all people around the world,” they wrote in an FAQ.

The group also wants Google to terminate any business contracts which support “Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights, such as the Israeli Defense Forces.”

Members of the group say they were inspired to write the latter after Jewglers failed to release a statement condemning violence against Palestinians. One worker told the Verge that people in the group were promoting pro-Israel funding opportunities.

Read the full letter below:

Dear Sundar and Google Executive Team:

We are a coalition of diverse Jewish and allied Googlers concerned about the internal dialogue around the political and racial violence in Israel and Palestine. We as Jews do not endorse the views of those who have written to you seeking to garner support for exclusively pro-Israel and pro-Zionist actions.

We object to the conflation of Israel with the Jewish people, affirm that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism, and implore leadership to take the following actions:

Heed the requests of Palestinian Googlers: Palestinians are overwhelmingly affected by the militarized colonial violence ocurring in the region. Please heed the requests framed by Palestinian Googlers and center their voices going forward.

Fund relief for Palestinians affected by military violence: We ask Google to fund Palestinian rights organizations and ensure that any support for Israeli humanitarian efforts be matched by support to Palestinian-led human rights and relief efforts.

Recognize the pain: We ask Google leadership to make a company-wide statement recognizing the violence in Palestine and Israel, which must include direct recognition of the harm done to Palestinians by Israeli military and gang violence. Both Israelis and Palestinians are hurting right now, but ignoring the destructive and deadly attacks faced by Palestinians erases our Palestinian coworkers.

Protect freedom of speech: We ask Google leadership to reject any definition of antisemitism that holds that criticism of Israel or Zionism is antisemitic. Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism and this conflation harms the pursuit of justice for Palestinians and Jews alike by limiting freedom of expression and distracting from real acts of antisemitism.

Affirm Google’s commitment to human rights: Many of Israel’s actions violate the UN human rights principles, which Google is committed to upholding. We request the review of all Alphabet business contracts and corporate donations and the termination of contracts with institutions that support Israeli violations of Palestinian rights, such as the Israeli Defense Forces.

Please sign your name here if you would like to support this message.

Signed by concerned Jewish Googlers and allies