A senior diversity official at Google has recently been removed from his position at the tech firm after it came out that he previously penned an anti-Semitic blog post.
Metro reported that Kamau Bobb, who was formerly the head of Google’s diversity strategy and research team, wrote the post in late 2007 following an outbreak of violence between Israel and Lebanon.
Bobb reportedly wrote: “If I were a Jew I would be concerned about my insatiable appetite for war and killing in defense of myself.
“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.”
Google responds
Since the uncovering of this now-deleted post, the tech giant has apologised and confirmed that Bobb will be reassigned to a STEM research role.
A statement released by the tech giant on Wednesday said that it “condemned the past writings by a member of our diversity team that are causing deep offense and pain to members of our Jewish community and our LGBTQ+ community.
“These writings are unquestionably hurtful.
"The author acknowledges this and has apologised. He will no longer be part of our diversity team going forward and will focus on his STEM work (sic),” the statement went on to say.
In addition, the BBC reported on an email that Bobb reportedly sent to the Jewish staff group at Google to apologise.
According to the New York Post, it reportedly read in the email: "What I wrote crudely characterised the entire Jewish community. What was intended as a critique of particular military action fed into anti-Semitic tropes and prejudice.
"I think we can all agree, there is no easy solution to this situation. But that's beside the point…The way I expressed my views on that conflict were hurtful."
D&I
This is not the first time that Google has hit headlines.
In May last year, it was alleged that the tech giant had significantly cut back internal programmes designed to promote D&I in the workplace, as was reported by Forbes.
According to a CNBC report, current and former employees at the firm stated that the reason for this decision was so that Google wouldn’t appear anti-conservative. This accusation was denied by the business.
Despite these allegations, a Google spokesperson previously told Forbes: “Any suggestion that we have scaled back or cut our diversity efforts is false. Diversity, equity, and inclusion remains a companywide commitment and our programs have scaled up to match the pace of Google’s growth.”
In addition, it was reported that the firm was previously investigated by the US Department of Labor and was accused of systemically discriminating against women.
