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By Ramzy Baroud
“We’re nameless as a result of we concern retaliation.” This textual content was a part of a letter signed by 500 Google workers final October, during which they decried their firm’s direct assist for the Israeli authorities and navy.
Of their letter, the signatories protested a $1.2 billion contract between Google, Amazon Net Providers (AWS) and the Israeli authorities which gives cloud companies for the Israeli navy and authorities that “permits for additional surveillance of and illegal information assortment on Palestinians, and facilitates growth of Israel’s unlawful settlements on Palestinian land”.
That is referred to as Undertaking Nimbus. The venture was introduced in 2018 and went into impact in Might 2021, within the first week of the Israeli struggle on besieged Gaza, which killed over 250 Palestinians and wounded many extra.
The Google workers weren’t solely disturbed by the truth that, by coming into into this settlement with Israel, their firm grew to become instantly concerned within the Israeli occupation of Palestine, however had been equally outraged by the “disturbing sample of militarization” that noticed comparable contracts between Google – Amazon, Microsoft and different tech giants – with the US navy, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and different policing businesses.
In an article printed within the Nation newspaper in June, three revered US lecturers have revealed the monetary part of Amazon’s choice to become involved in such an immoral enterprise, arguing that such military-linked contracts have “change into a significant supply of revenue for Amazon.” It’s estimated, in keeping with the article, that AWS alone was liable for 63 p.c of Amazon’s earnings in 2020.
The maxim ‘individuals earlier than revenue’ can’t be any extra acceptable than within the Palestinian context, and neither Google nor Amazon can declare ignorance. The Israeli occupation of Palestine has been in place for many years, and quite a few United Nations resolutions have condemned Israel for its occupation, colonial growth and violence towards Palestinians. If all of that was not sufficient to wane the passion of Google and Amazon to have interaction in tasks that particularly aimed toward defending Israel’s ‘nationwide safety’ – learn: continued occupation of Palestine – a damning report by Israel’s largest human rights group, B’tselem ought to have served as that get up name.
B’tselem declared Israel an apartheid state in January 2021. The worldwide rights group, Human Rights Watch (HRW) adopted swimsuit in April, additionally denouncing the Israeli apartheid state. That was just a few weeks earlier than Undertaking Nimbus was declared. It was as if Google and Amazon had been purposely declaring their assist of apartheid. The truth that the venture was signed throughout the Israeli struggle on Gaza speaks volumes concerning the two tech giants’ full disregards of worldwide legislation, human rights and the very freedom of the Palestinian individuals.
It will get worse. On March 15, tons of of Google staff signed a petition protesting the firing of one among their colleagues, Ariel Koren, who was lively in producing the October letter in protest of Undertaking Nimbus. Koren was the product advertising and marketing supervisor at Google for Training, and has labored for the corporate for six years. Nonetheless, she was the type of worker who was not welcomed by the likes of Google, as the corporate is now instantly concerned with varied navy and safety tasks.
“For me, as a Jewish worker of Google, I really feel a deep sense of intense ethical duty,” she mentioned in an announcement final October. “If you work in an organization, you may have the correct to be accountable and liable for the best way that your labor is definitely getting used,” she added.
Google rapidly retaliated to that seemingly outrageous assertion. The next month, her supervisor “introduced her with an ultimatum: transfer to Brazil or lose her place.” Ultimately, she was pushed out of the corporate.
Koren was not the primary Google – or Amazon – worker to be fired for standing up for a very good trigger, nor would, sadly, be the final. On this age of militarism, surveillance, unwarranted facial recognition and censorship, talking one’s thoughts and daring to battle for human rights and different primary freedoms is now not an choice.
Amazon’s warehouses could be as dangerous, and even worse than a typical sweatshop. Final March, and after a short denial, Amazon apologized for forcing its staff to pee in water bottles – and worse – in order that their managers might fulfill their required quotas. The apology adopted direct proof offered by the investigative journalism web site, The Intercept. Nonetheless, the corporate which stands accused of quite a few violations of employee rights – together with its engagement in ‘union busting’ – will not be anticipated to reverse course any time quickly, particularly when a lot earnings are at stake.
However earnings generated from market monopoly, mistreatment of staff or different misconducts are completely different from earnings generated from contributing on to struggle crimes and crimes towards humanity. Although human rights violations must be shunned all over the place, no matter their contexts, Israel’s struggle on the Palestinian individuals, now with the direct assist of such firms, stays one of many gravest injustices that proceed to scar the consciousness of humankind. No quantity of Google justification or Amazon rationalization can change the truth that they’re facilitating Israeli struggle crimes in Palestine.
To be extra exact, in keeping with the Nation, the Google-Amazon cloud service will assist Israel develop its unlawful Jewish settlements by “supporting information for the Israel Land Authority (ILA), the federal government company that manages and allocates state land.” These settlements, that are repeatedly condemned by the worldwide neighborhood, are constructed on Palestinian land and are instantly linked to the continued ethnic cleaning of the Palestinian individuals.
In response to the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, Undertaking Nimbus is the “most profitable tender issued by Israel in recent times.” The Undertaking, which has ignited a “secretive struggle” involving high Israeli military generals – all vying for a share within the revenue – has additionally whetted the urge for food of many different worldwide tech firms, all desirous to be a part of Israel’s know-how drive, with the final word goal of preserving Palestinians entrapped, occupied and oppressed.
That is exactly why the Palestinian boycott motion is totally important because it targets these worldwide firms, that are migrating to Israel searching for earnings. Israel, quite the opposite, must be boycotted, not enabled, sanctioned and never rewarded. Whereas revenue technology is understandably the principle objective of firms like Google and Amazon, this objective could be achieved with out essentially requiring the subjugation of an entire individuals, who’re presently the victims of the world’s final remaining apartheid regime.
– Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He’s the creator of six books. His newest e book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is “Our Imaginative and prescient for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Communicate out”. Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Analysis Fellow on the Heart for Islam and World Affairs (CIGA). His web site is www.ramzybaroud.web
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