Company bosses and workers struggle with the consequences of speaking out about the Israel-Hamas war
FILE – Missiles from Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system maneuver to intercept a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, Israel, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov, File)
NEW YORK (AP) –
Starbucks accused a union that represents thousands of its baristas of damaging the brand and endangering colleagues with a pro-Palestinian tweet. The CEO of a prominent technology conference resigned after backlash over his public comments suggesting that Israel was committing war crimes. Company executives vowed never to hire members of university student groups that condemned Israel.
Meanwhile, Islamic rights advocates say much of the corporate response has minimized the suffering in Gaza, where thousands have died in Israeli airstrikes, and created an atmosphere of fear for workers seeking to express their support for the Palestinians. Jewish groups have criticized muted or slow responses to Hamas’ Oct. 7 rampage that killed 1,400 people in Israel and sparked the latest war.
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The fallout from the Israel-Hamas war has spilled over into workplaces everywhere, as top executives at big-name companies are voicing their views while workers complain that their voices are not being heard. People of all ranks were criticized for speaking too forcefully – or not forcefully enough – making it almost impossible to craft a unified message when passions ran high on all sides.
Many U.S. companies have close ties to Israel, particularly technology and financial companies that have offices and employees in the country.
Executives from JP Morgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs, Google and Meta were among dozens who immediately condemned the Hamas attacks and expressed solidarity with the Israeli people in public statements, social media posts or even phone calls with companies . Many pledged millions of dollars in humanitarian aid and detailed efforts to protect employees in Israel.
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Some business leaders expressed their personal sadness.
In a LinkedIn post and a letter to employees, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said he had been constantly on the phone with friends and relatives in Israel and expressed his horror that “civilians of all ages were being attacked and killed in cold blood, taken hostage, etc.” . “were tortured.” He implored employees to look out for each other and said Pfizer had launched a humanitarian aid campaign.
It is not enough to condemn these actions – we must take action ourselves,” Bourla wrote.
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Backlash against opposing views quickly emerged, including responses to a tweet from Web Summit CEO Paddy Cosgrave in which he suggested that Israel was committing war crimes.
“I will never attend/sponsor/speak at any of your events again,” former Facebook executive David Marcus said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Amid a growing boycott of next month’s Web Summit, a prominent European gathering of thousands of tech leaders, Cosgrave resigned Saturday, saying his “personal comments had become a distraction from the event and our team, our sponsors, our startups, etc.” be people who participate.”
His resignation came days after he posted a lengthy message denouncing Hamas attacks, apologizing for the timing of his first tweet while defending his general view of the conflict. But companies continued to withdraw from the conference, including Google, Meta, German technology group Siemens and US chipmaker Intel.
Jonathan Neman, CEO of the Sweetgreen restaurant chain, was among several corporate leaders who vowed never to hire Harvard students who belonged to groups that co-signed a statement blaming Israel for the violence.
The international law firm Winston & Strawn withdrew a job offer to a New York University student who wrote in the Student Bar Association bulletin that Israel was solely responsible for the bloodshed.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, an Islamic civil rights group, condemned the backlash against the students and statements by U.S. business leaders that “lacked any meaningful expression of sympathy toward Palestinian civilians.”
These reactions have combined, the organization said, to leave “Palestinians and those working for Palestinian human rights isolated in their workplaces and fearful of possible consequences” as they have to discuss how the conflict affects them has had an impact.
Isra Abuhasna, a data scientist in the Chicago area, was among several professionals who expressed similar thoughts on social media, saying in a LinkedIn post that she was “risking her entire career” by expressing her views on the conflict.
Abuhasna, a Palestinian American who has worked for a real estate firm and other companies but recently took a break to stay home with her two young children, said she feared her jobs would make it difficult to find a new job to find. But she said her parents raised her to be proud and vocal for the Palestinian cause.
“It’s my identity,” Abuhasna said. “What good is my job if I endanger my own morals and ethics?”
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One of the biggest disputes erupted at Starbucks after Starbucks Workers United, a union representing 9,000 workers in more than 360 U.S. stores, tweeted “Solidarity with Palestine” two days after the Hamas attack. The tweet was removed within 40 minutes, but the company said it led to more than 1,000 complaints, vandalism and angry arguments at its stores.
Starbucks filed a lawsuit to stop Starbucks Workers United from using its name and a similar logo. Workers United, the parent union of Starbucks Workers United, responded with its own lawsuit, claiming that Starbucks defamed the union by saying it supported terrorism. She would like to continue using the company name.
Starbucks Workers United tweeted a lengthy message on Friday denouncing Israel’s “occupation” and the “threat of genocide against Palestinians,” while condemning anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
Angela Berg, founder of workplace consulting firm Perelaks, said companies with strong opinions on the war should express them, but “the key thing is that they acknowledge the existence of the other side’s experience.” Those who try to stay on the sidelines , would have to explain their reasons to employees, said Berg.
As the humanitarian disaster in Gaza deepened, other business leaders weighed in on the situation, including Accenture CEO Julie Sweet, who said the company would make a $3 million donation between Israeli emergency services Magen David Adom and the Palestinian Red Crescent.
But companies that held back faced headwinds.
Allison Grinberg-Funes, a Jew, wrote in a LinkedIn post that she was disappointed that her colleagues failed to speak up in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attacks.
Although they eventually came forward, Grinberg-Funes said in an interview with The Associated Press that she remained disappointed that her employer, Liberty Mutual, did not publicly condemn the attacks.
The insurance company’s Boston-based content designer said the silence was part of a broader “lack of support” for the Jewish community that she and her friends had observed in the workplace.
“We want to know that our lives are just as important as those of the other employees who were shown support,” said Grinberg-Funes, 33, who has family and friends in Israel.
Liberty Mutual did not respond to a request for comment.
Associated Press business reporter Dee-Ann Durbin contributed to this story.