A recent revelation by a whistleblower within Amazon has sparked a controversy regarding the use of the company’s internal communication channels and physical offices for sharing discriminatory and insensitive remarks about Israel, leading to a potentially hostile work environment for Jewish and Israeli employees. The whistleblower, a programmer at Amazon, has disclosed that certain employees have been posting anti-Israel comments on an internal Slack channel, reportedly having over 3,000 members.
Evidence of antisemitism on internal channels arises in the context of Amazon already facing criticism for its lack of response over Amazon’s own Israeli employee, Sasha Troufanov, having been one of the October 7, 2023 hostages taken by Hamas during the surprise attack over two months ago. Despite repeated appeals, Amazon’s management has failed to even acknowledge that its employee was kidnapped or that he remains a hostage.
The issue came to light following the sharing of flyers with symbols associated with Palestine in Amazon’s offices across the world and on the company’s internal wiki on November 29, 2023. The flyers displayed a watermelon symbol, shaped like the Jewish state of Israel, which was interpreted as a call to destroy the existing state of Israel. The flyers were accompanied by calls on the Amazon slack channel of “from the river to the sea” and attempts to raise money for Islamic Relief Canada, an affiliate of Islamic Relief Worldwide, which was banned by Israel a decade ago for alleged ties to Hamas.
Among the contentious posts on Slack, one by Amazon employee, Laith Abad, stated, “Idk how Palestine gets their freedom, but simply asking nicely isn’t the solution.”
Another, from Zaid Akel, expressed explicit support for Hamas, stating, “I stand with any and every revolution against their occupiers, so I stand with Hamas.”
Further exacerbating the situation was a post that appeared to mock the Israeli hostages. In this instance, an Amazon employee shared a picture from social media accompanied by comments that sarcastically implied the hostages were well-treated. This post cynically suggested, “Jokes, smiles, handshakes, and even hugs! Have we ever witnessed prisoners treat their captors like this? This is why Israel won’t allow these hostages to give interviews. Compare this to how Palestinian hostages are treated by Israel.” Adding to the insensitivity, Amazon employee Ayat Abukhadra commented with evident sarcasm, “torture is really showing…” — a remark that was interpreted as making light of the serious and traumatic experience of the hostages.
Additionally, a post by Amazon employee Zaid Malhis alleged “organ theft” by Israeli forces from dead Palestinians, further inflaming the situation.
In response to the backlash from some Amazon employees against these posts, another employee, Carl Hage, admitted to censoring the comments of five Israeli Amazon employees. Hage justified his actions by stating that the Slack channel was intended to support Arab employees at Amazon and to raise awareness among the company’s allies.
Another post by Laith Abad quoted Jake Shields alleging that “The IDF brutally beat and gang raped a 13 year old girl for 5 years. They threatened to do the same to her 9 year old sister if she told anyone.”
Another internal post by employee Ahmed Shihab on the Amazon internal Slack Channel appeared to claim that Israel put explosives in a boy’s stomach.
Further, a statement released by “Amazon Labor Union Democratic Reform Caucus” made multiple inflammatory accusations against Israel, including saying Israel is committing “ongoing genocide” in a “75-year-long militarist occupation committed by the settler colony Israel against the indigenous Palestinian people.” It further calls Israel an “imperialist and colonialist project of the West, is inherently violent and systematically oppressive and the intent and effect of genocide is clear.” The statement calls for support of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (“BDS”) against Israel, including calling for halting a contract between Amazon and the Israeli government.
These incidents have raised serious questions about the use of internal company platforms for political discussions and the spreading of potentially harmful and discriminatory content. It also highlights the challenges companies face in moderating content on their internal networks while respecting freedom of expression.
Amazon has been widely criticized even beyond the Jewish press for failing to even acknowledge its employee who was kidnapped and still held hostage by Hamas. Amazon has yet to officially respond.
Ah, the Israel lobby at it again. No one has expressed more racism and hatred in Amazon than these guys. There is a reason why blacks, non Jewish whites and Latinos are keeping a safe distance from you in Amazon. The victim cries of anti semitism when Israel is critiqued is tiring for us all. Heres to hoping the Jewish Affinity channel finally being shut down as we are all tired of you.
Signed – an Amazon employee
Ah, here the lying and the gaslighting begin. #PalestinianLies
BTW, your comment is completely racist
so, leave Amazon, fvcking 1di0t
As an employee who has reported to Human Resources about several Arab Slack channel members I’m pleased to see several vocal employees called out in our papers.
Despite being white and indistinguishable from the white collective (as Jewishness is not genetic but can be converted into), we Jews are a minority group who should collectively cancel anyone who comments about us within the workplace. Despite only Arabs having been victims of murder and attacks since October 7th, it can be us next. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/29/us/vermont-shooting-burlington-palestinian-american.html
We have worked successfully in having one Arab fired, we need to continue working on a few others. Do not allow the stereotype of Jews being trouble makers deter us -we are the Chosen People.
congratulations, I tried with the ethic line and human resources with no success at all
Oof, how embarrassing it must be for these folks to have their current and future employers see what kind of antisemitic remarks they are saying in the workplace. Once that’s out there it’s pretty much out there forever. And those screenshots don’t even capture some of the worst instances.
It’s good to see Amazon is starting to take antisemitism seriously, given @nournas (who posted an Israeli flag covered with a Swastika to social media) is no longer an employee here.
Maybe they will think twice about posting antisemitic content to Slack now, though I wish they’d instead think twice about why those antisemitic thoughts are entering their minds in the first place.
Posting in response to Sharon Alum – Jewishness IS in fact genetic, but also can be converted into in terms of religion. There are genetic tests that can tell what % you is Jewish and the original, e.g. Ashkenazi. I think it’s important to remember this, not all of us Jews are religious or care about religion, but that doesn’t mean we don’t identify as Jews.
Please note this is likely a doxxing attempt, probably from the same person who attempted doxxing underneath.
I truly hope the website owner can track the commenter down and provide the authorities with enough information to persecute them, as this is defamation and identity theft.
Keep giving these sand people hell. And take down any of the niggers (or is it nigga:-) who support them be it in BLM or in Amazon. Ive worked actively in having Amazon offices remove BLMs influence and have had some wins be it small. The Jews stood with these low lives during the CRM and this is how they repay us – lack of support of Israel?!. Our people went through the Holocaust once – never again.
Please note the comment I am responding to is most likely a doxxing attempt. I have read posts written by the alleged commenter and this comment does not seem to align with their views or writing style, and is likely a catfishing post trying to get them in trouble.
I truly hope the website owner can work with the authorities to track down the doxxer and persecute them, as this is a hostile defamation attempt. I would recommend the website owner to contact Amazon with whatever information they can provide regarding this comment’s true origin as finding the doxxer should be a shared interest.
Looks like someone tried to virtually impersonate and dox me while making it seem like I posted hateful and disgusting language. I’d ask the owner of this site to keep the original post up so the police that get involved can use the IP address to locate the individual who tried to dox me.
You’re disgusting.
The posts on this thread made in the name of “Sharon Aluma” are totally fake and are just a doxxing attempt by those who are not happy with their own antisemitism exposed in this article. The commenting system of this website does not verify your email so anyone can comment in your name. Please ignore.
Get back to work guys
Listen to what Jeff said
Exposing amazon employees identities like this ( full names and pictures) in a public extremist journal like this one is a complete crime. you are exposing thier lives to danger by extremists.
FAFO is a thing.🤷🏽♂️
All Amazon employees must be signing an NDA, like all major companies. This employee clearly went against it but sharing these screenshots, and they should be fired as they are not trustworthy
Strawman argument.
The ones to be fired are the 3000 antisemitic guys . Communities in phone tool should be eliminated and slack channels and wikis closed if they Are not for professional purposes . The whole company stinks of progresism , it is orwel’s 1984 on 2020 decade. They pay good Salary but thus is the worst place to work
As a former Amazon employee I reported very same facts to the ethic line and to hhrr vicepresident. Thanks for reporting they said. However I captured many evidences just in case anyone want see.
these 3 names are some antisemitic leaders: Elias Haroun, Zaina Hilweh, and Laith Abad. Search them on Phonetool , and refuse to work with them.