The Hamas terror group is praising the "courageous stance" of a Google employee who quit her job over opposition to the company's work with Israel.
"Hamas hails the courageous stance of Google marketing manager, Ariel Koren, who rejects Google's policy of providing services and logistical support to the Zionist occupation, which targets the Palestinian people and their rights, and accuses Google of being complicit in violations against Palestinian human rights," Hamas said in a statement posted Wednesday on its official website.
Koren, who is Jewish, announced this week in a public blog post that she is quitting the company after seven years, claiming that Google tried to retaliate against her for her anti-Israel activism. Koren spent the better part of a year protesting "against Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion agreement for Google and Amazon to supply Israel and its military with artificial intelligence tools and other computing services," according to the New York Times.
Koren spearheaded opposition to the deal with Israel, with several of her colleagues anonymously backing Koren's claims that Google "systematically silences Palestinian, Jewish, Arab, and Muslim voices concerned about Google's complicity in violations of Palestinian human rights—to the point of formally retaliating against workers and creating an environment of fear," according to her blog post.
"Due to retaliation, a hostile environment, and illegal actions by the company, I cannot continue to work at Google and have no choice but to leave the company at the end of this week," Koren wrote.