Rotten to the Core: How the Gaza genocide has revealed anti-Palestinian racism at Apple
Apple has silenced employees who have spoken out for Palestine and shown bias toward Israel through statements and actions. In the process it has lost all credibility as a company that claims to believe in racial equity or social justice.
I’ve spent over a decade at one of the richest companies in the world: Apple. I began my career the same week that Steve Jobs passed away. Since then, I’ve personally witnessed how the company has transformed from a company that really felt like it believed in its credo statement — one that emphasizes inclusion, respect, and care for the earth — into a conglomeration that not only contributes to some of the world’s most egregious horrors, but finds itself too above it all to address any of it.
The genocide currently unfolding in Palestine has shattered any illusion of inclusion and diversity that many companies claim to believe in, including Apple. And make no mistake, Apple has not been silent in its advocacy for social issues. In 2020, CEO Tim Cook sent out an email shortly after the death of George Floyd, stating “At Apple, our mission has and always will be to create technology that empowers people to change the world for the better. We’ve always drawn strength from our diversity, welcomed people from every walk of life to our stores around the world, and strived to build an Apple that is inclusive of everyone.” Since then, the company has launched their Racial Equity and Justice Initiative (REJI), and has made it clear that they want to be champions of change when it comes to race and discrimination. But the company’s actions in the last 8 months have proven that there is always an exception in inclusion and diversity when it comes to Palestine.
On October 9, Cook sent an email to all employees with a subject line of “Israel.” In it, he expressed heartbreak and sympathy towards the Israelis who lost their lives or loved ones on October 7. Eight months later, no such message has been sent acknowledging any Palestinian suffering or loss, and the company remains silent on the ongoing genocide. This failure in communication not only clearly indicates Apple’s bias on the issue of Palestine/Israel, but has proven something I’ve known for years: Apple Inc. is a Zionist organization that will do anything it can to avoid a conflict that they have quite literally put themselves in the middle of.
In 2012, Apple opened the company’s second largest Research & Development center in Herzliyeh, where they have since invested millions, if not billions, into the Israeli economy. To give you an understanding of how close Apple is to the horrors happening in Palestine, their headquarters are a mere ~50 miles away from the border of Gaza, which is the same distance the Cupertino headquarters are from San Francisco. It’s curious, why a company that boasts itself to be so inclusionary would even consider opening offices in a country found by multiple organizations, like Human RIghts Watch and Amnesty International, to be guilty of running a system of apartheid.
By opening their doors in Israel, Apple immediately opened themselves up to criticism of what it means to be running an American company in a place like that. It’s no secret how racist Israeli society is, how much they are taught to despise Palestinians, literally rampaging through the streets of Jerusalem chanting “death to Arabs” in Hebrew. So, it’s honestly a little comical to believe that a company that champions racial equity so hard can open its doors in one of the most politically divisive countries in the world, and remain quiet on those politics when they have now gotten to the point of being so racist, so vile, that the government is continuously fueling a genocide.
It could be said that silence indicates a sort of respect. A sign that, maybe, Apple is thinking about how to approach this, how to right their wrongs. But eventually, silence turns into a form of disrespect and complicity, especially when there have been so many voices pleading for the company to say something, and it has been months with no acknowledgement of any kind.
When Cook sent that email on October 9, I immediately went into my store to write a response, despite being off. It was a very carefully written, respectful email that pointed out all the reasons why his response was hurtful, and all the reasons why this company needed to say something about Palestinian suffering. A few days later, my manager came up to me to say, “Tim read your email.” I was shocked, and proud, that after months of trying to reach out to executive leadership about their bias on Palestine, someone important saw my message. I was told that everyone who saw it was impressed by its tone, and how respectful and well-written it was. And yet, Apple has still remained silent on Palestinian suffering, and I’ve yet to get a direct response from leadership.
But I know I’m not the only Apple employee to voice their concerns about how Apple has handled this situation. Several co-workers have informed me they also wrote emails to Tim, had discussions with their managers, and tried to be vocal about how hurt we are by this company’s silence. And still, the company remains silent.
This is why I chose to start a campaign called Apples4Ceasefire in March, where we collected over 400 signatures from current and former Apple employees to urge that Apple ends their silence on Palestinian suffering, and acknowledge us. Acknowledgement of Palestinian loss and suffering is the least this company could do, considering Tim’s email about Israel.
I started Apples4Ceasefire not only because of Tim’s email, or the fact that I was forced to remove my Palestinian flag pin in January of 2023 because a Zionist couple complained about it, but because I was witnessing this company actively ignore pleas for help, and we needed a way to band together to tell Apple it wasn’t just Palestinians that were suffering, or concerned about their approach to this matter.
Soon after, employees from around the globe started messaging me to share how Apple had been shutting down any sign of Palestinian support through-out retail, all over the world. From Scotland to Australia, Apple has made it clear that if you work in retail, the most public facing role in the company, you cannot show any support for Palestine.
This movement has also sparked others, including an open letter from another set of employees that have requested Apple stops including organizations in their Benevity platform that fund and arm illegal settlements in the West Bank. From Apple’s silence and complicity, rises an ever growing number of employees who refuse to accept the treatment we have faced in the last 8 months — and there are other examples.
On November 1, Apple shut down the Muslim and Jewish community Slack channels, without giving a reason. A few months later, I was contacted by someone who was a part of the channel at the time who provided screenshots of what happened, and I was aghast at what I saw. Zionists within the company were coming into the Muslim channel to harass the Muslim employees, and mass reported anything they found offensive. Many of these reported messages were removed, without even telling the original poster or community why. One of these messages happened to be an Arabic verse of the Quran, and the employee who posted that verse was subsequently fired, without just cause given.
But, as far as I am aware, none of the Zionists who came into the Muslim channel were terminated. And instead of choosing to moderate these spaces, Apple shut them both down. Apple is so terrified of publicly placing themselves on either side of this horror, that they would rather continuously shut down both communities than deal with acknowledging the racism that Zionism enables. It has been eight months since October, and both channels are still shut down, with no expectation of revival anytime soon.
Since the shut down, however, Apple has hosted three Muslim community chats through WebEx, in an effort to “listen to the community.” Never mind the fact the community has been emailing and begging for the company to say something since October, these chats have become a perfect example of this company’s approach to Palestine. In the latest chat, which took place just over two weeks ago, Vice President of Inclusion & Diversity,Barbara Whye , and her direct report, Kisha Modica, were invited to listen, but neither of them took an opportunity to say hello via mic or chat, or even turn on their cameras.
Not too long after the last chat began, silence began to fill the room. Two times previously, the time slot to share was filled with people who had something to say. But eight months into watching our family get killed, eight months into witnessing horror after horror on social media, what else was there to say? And what’s worse, is the company’s silent approach to our feelings was happening in real time. We were literally crying in front of executive leadership, expressing our heartbreak, and they were too scared to even acknowledge a word.
Since then, I’ve been thinking about this approach of inviting executives to “listen,” and the more I think about it the more problematic it became. Hundreds of employees have signed open letters requesting this company end their silence on Palestinian suffering. Several employees have been terminated because of their support of Palestine, we’ve hosted multiple community chats at this point. And still, the only thing executive leadership can do is open up a WebEx link and not even show their face?
In the months that I have been fighting this discrimination at Apple, I have been extremely careful to be as respectful, polite, and patient as I possibly could be. Despite losing nearly a dozen family members in Gaza, despite the rage I feel as the world continues to let this genocide continue, I am watching every word I say, because the world always considers Palestinian anger more dangerous than Zionist racism.
But through all of this, I know one thing to be true: In just 8 short months, Apple has lost all credibility as a company that claims to believe in racial equity and social justice. Palestine is not only the litmus test, but the compass, of which every single organization and person on this planet will be judged when it comes to these social issues, and Apple has not only failed spectacularly, they have self-destructed. No amount of AI announcements, new products, or distraction can pull away from the fact that Apple has very clearly sided itself with a fascist, racist regime that is currently crumbling as we speak.
What’s happening at Apple isn’t unique, it is a common problem across multiple industries and businesses all over the world. They believe to be fighting racism and xenophobia, when in reality they are contributing to it. And when faced with the fact that they have been advocating for all the wrong things, instead of taking this problem head on, they hide. They remain quiet. They hope for things to pass, so things can go on like “normal.” But make no mistake: This is not a world event that just passes us by; this is not a rehash of the 2020 political awakening that has caused no change in the way police forces murder black and brown people. The movement for a free and liberated Palestine is a massive, world-changing event that is already drastically changing every single landscape it touches, from politics to business.
Apple has the gall to use historic movements of fighting prejudice and racism, quoting famous civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. several times over the course of the last few years, but they can’t even respond to one of today’s most important cases of social injustice and racism, and in doing so their advocacy immediately gets revealed to be marketing in disguise.
I adore this company. I have wanted to work here since I was 15, and I intreviewed 10 times just to get my first job here. I firmly believe that Apple products are remarkable achievements in technology, and that this company is so different than many others. But it’s the similarities that kill me — the obsession with money over people, investors over employees, stocks over souls. And it hurts so much that even at it’s best, Apple represents some of the worst aspects of society that villify and degrade the Palestinian people. My only hope is that the rest of the world wakes up, and makes it clear to Apple that we will not take their silence any longer.