Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google, has accused to the UN of being “transparently antisemitic” after its report on the role of tech firms in the Gaza War accused the company, among others, of profiting from “genocide”.
The report was authored by the global body’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, who has long faced accusations of anti-Israeli bias.
It contends that tech companies have taken advantage of the IDF’s ever-growing need for technical services and data storage to profit from what Albanese described as “the genocide carried out by Israel”.
In particular, it highlighted Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract offered by Israel to Google and Amazon in 2021 to facilitate greater cloud storage and computing power.
Google also “moved to sell its AI tools” to the IDF in the wake of the October 7, 2023 attacks, according to the Washington Post.
During a discussion on an internal forum for workers at the company’s AI division, Google DeepMind, Brin wrote: “With all due respect, throwing around the term genocide in relation to Gaza is deeply offensive to many Jewish people who have suffered actual genocides.
"I would also be careful citing transparently antisemitic organizations like the UN in relation to these issues.”
After screenshots of the conversation were made public by the Post, Brin said: “My comments came in response to an internal discussion that was citing a plainly biased and misleading report.”
The row is the latest in the long-running internal struggle at Google over the Gaza War, with the company sacking a number of staff in 2024 following protests over the firm’s business dealings with Israel.
A total of 28 employees were fired after raising complaints related to Project Nimbus, nine of whom were arrested during sit-in demonstrations at the company’s California headquarters.
Those involved were part of the No Tech for Apartheid group and were locked out of work devices and informed of their dismissals by email.
One of those who helped organise the protest said: “I’m furious. This is a wildly disproportionate response to workers standing up for morality and for holding Google accountable for its own promises.
"Firing people associated with an event they don’t like — it’s unbelievable.”
Google said the firings were justified by protesters “physically impeding other employees’ work and preventing them from accessing our facilities” in “clear violation of our policies”.
In the wake of the dispute, Google CEO Sundar Pichai sent a company memo calling on staff not to “fight over disruptive issues or debate politics” in the workplace.
