Google’s Head of Diversity Strategy wrote that Jews have “insatiable appetite for war and killing” and an “insensitivity to the suffering [of] others”
It has been reported that Google’s Head of Diversity Strategy wrote that Jews have an “insatiable appetite for war and killing” and an “insensitivity to the suffering [of] others.”
The revelation came after a blog post written by Kamau Bobb almost fifteen years ago surfaced this week. The antisemitic sentiments were a part of a longer post, titled “If I Were A Jew,” which touched upon the attitudes Jews were alleged to have towards the conflict in Israel.
The excerpt from 30th November 2007 reads: “If I were a Jew I would be concerned about my insatiable appetite for war and killing in defense of myself. Self defense is undoubtedly an instinct, but I would be afraid of my increasing insensitivity to the suffering [of] others.”
According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews” is an example of antisemitism.
The blog is still active, with Mr Bobb having posted in it as recently as April of this year.
When criticising the actions of the Israeli government, Mr Bobb wrote: “If I were a Jew today, my sensibilities would be tormented. I would find it increasingly difficult to reconcile the long cycles of oppression that Jewish people have endured and the insatiable appetite for vengeful violence that Israel, my homeland, has now acquired.
“I don’t know how I would reconcile that identity with the behaviour of fundamentalist Jewish extremists or of Israel as a nation. The details would confuse me. I wouldn’t understand those who suggest that bombing Lebanon, slaughtering Lebanese people and largely destroying Beirut in retaliation for the capture of a few soldiers is justified.”
Israel was engaged in conflict with the antisemitic genocidal terrorist group, Hizballah, in 2006. According to the Definition, “Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the State of Israel” is also an example of antisemitism, as is “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis”.
Observing that it was the 79th anniversary of Kristallnacht at the time that he was writing, Mr Bobb placed an onus on Jewish people to speak out on current events due to the murder of the six million Jews in the Holocaust.
“My reflections on Kristallnacht would lead me to feel that these are precisely the human sentiments that I as Jew would understand; that I ought to understand and feel compelled to help alleviate,” Mr Bobb wrote.
“It cannot be that the sum total of a history of suffering and slaughter places such a premium on my identity that I would be willing to damn others in defense of it.”
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “It should be remarkable that Google could hire as its Head of Diversity Strategy someone who has compared Israel to Nazis and characterised Jews as warmongers. But, sadly, revelations such as these are becoming more unremarkable, because the Jewish community has come to realise that, among online influencers and corporate trendsetters, racism directed at Jews simply does not count.
“Social media companies fail time and again to address antisemitism on their platforms, and with diversity officers like this, it is no wonder why. That is why we continue to call for the Government to bring forward Online Harms legislation as soon as possible.
“If Google wants to show that it is serious about tackling anti-Jewish hate, it should begin by removing Mr Bobb and adopting the International Definition of Antisemitism, which can then be applied both in its workplaces and across its platforms to identify the sort of racism against Jews that Mr Bobb has expressed and that too often goes unsanctioned.”
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