'Israelis should be burned to death’: Israeli employees experience wave of antisemitism

"I have been working at Amazon in New York for nine years, and until October 7, I have not experienced anything antisemitic there," said Michael (a pseudonym; all names in the article are pseudonyms), an Israeli-American who works for the company as a software developer. 

"There have always been good relations between the Israelis who work here and the other employees. This is a company that has never had demonstrations, protests, or expressions of antisemitism, not even when Israel was involved in previous operations. But since the Black Sabbath, something has changed. It didn't happen all at once. It was a process," he said.

Manifestation of the antisemitism

"At first, there were small things, like being ‘forgotten’ from post-work social gatherings. Then, in office conversations, some employees denied the October 7 massacre and started talking about war crimes committed by Israel.

Some said that all Israelis should be drowned in the sea and similar things like that. It's unpleasant to hear, especially from people I was on good terms with, and now they see me as an enemy. Then they started sending messages in WhatsApp groups that I’m part of, like 'I stand with Palestine,' 'It's time to free occupied Palestine,’ and 'Israelis should be burned to death.’ On the walls there are Free Palestine stickers, and in the elevators, you will see graffiti in Arabic, I assume they are against Israel."

The magazine entitled The European Conservative revealed last January that Amazon employees were found to have been spreading pro-Palestinian and antisemitic messages after internal communication documents were leaked from the company. "It happened on Slack, the messaging platform," said Michael. 

"They wrote that the Israelis were raping Palestinian women and beheading children. My main fear is that someday it will escalate from words to actions, and there is no one here who is really protecting us."

In the news, it was noted that several Israelis complained to the authorities about this.

"Supervisors are afraid to deal with the pro-Palestinian and Arab employees in the company and prefer to be neutral," explained Michael. "So neutral, it has become anti-Israel. I feel that I do not have the support of the management."

Amazon responded in a statement, "We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind in the workplace. We investigate any reported behavior of this nature and will take appropriate action against any employee found to have violated our policies, including termination of their employment."

Safety at Apple

Noa has been working at the Apple offices in California for five years and says that the dynamic between the employees has changed since October 7.

"There are employees who simply stopped talking to me and the other Israelis," she said. "They throw us angry glances along with comments like 'Free Palestine.' 

At first, we tried to explain the situation to them, but very quickly, we realized there was no one to talk to. Later on, as the conflict continued, all sorts of anonymous emails and messages started circulating in WhatsApp groups, such as 'Israel is committing war crimes,' 'Israeli oppression must be destroyed,' and 'We support Hamas.’”

Management response

"The truth is that management is very attentive, and when there is something antisemitic, they immediately condemn it and invite those who voiced the complaint to a hearing. Not long ago, there was one German employee (Natasha Dach, pseudonym) who worked at the Turkish branch and was fired from 'Apple' after she published an antisemitic post on Instagram."

Safety at work

"As of now, yes. I feel safe, but I don't overly expose my Israeli identity because you never know when the verbal abuse will escalate to physical violence, especially now during the month of Ramadan. During the 'Guardian of the Walls operation, I felt safer because there weren't too many employees who were anti-Israel or called us 'murderers.' 

Now, it's a war that has brought out the worst sides in antisemites, and it's much scarier. I am happy that the management is supportive and very sensitive about these issues, and I want to believe that they will not allow violence to happen."  

Apple responded in a statement, "Apple works tirelessly to cultivate a culture where everyone belongs, and we expect all our employees to follow the very ethical and business policy Ours is clear. We thoroughly investigate allegations of inappropriate behavior and, as necessary, we will not hesitate to take immediate action, including termination of employment.”

"Entering the TikTok offices is very stressful these days," said Daniel, an Israeli who has been working in the company's offices in Los Angeles for the past year and a half. “I don’t feel safe showing that I’m Israeli, let alone that I support Israel. Many employees are ashamed to say they’re Jewish. There’s a very strong core of Hamas and Palestine supporters here, and some of them even walk around with Palestinian flag stickers.”

It should be noted that last December, Fox Business published testimonies from Israeli and Jewish employees about a hostile atmosphere within TikTok, and it was reported that TikTok employees allegedly celebrated the Hamas attack.