Starbucks accused a union representing thousands of its baristas of damaging the brand and endangering co-workers with a pro-Palestinian tweet. The CEO of a prominent tech conference is facing boycotts after he publicly suggested Israel was committing war crimes. Company bosses have vowed never to hire members of a university's 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 who want to express support for Palestinians. Jewish groups have criticized tepid responses or slow reactions to the Oct. 7 Hamas rampage that killed 1,400 people in Israel and triggered the latest war.
The fallout from the Israel-Hamas war has spilled into workplaces everywhere, as top leaders of prominent companies weigh in with their views while workers complain their voices are not being heard. People from all ranks have been called out for speaking too forcefully — or not forcefully enough — making it nearly impossible to come up with a unifying message when passions run deep on all sides.The international law firm Winston & Strawn rescinded a job offer to a New York University student who wrote a message in the Student Bar Association bulletin saying Israel was entirely to blame for the bloodshed.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, an Islamic civil rights group, denounced the backlash against the students and statements from U.S. corporate leaders that "lack any meaningful display of sympathy toward Palestinian civilians."
Those reactions combined, the organization said, are leaving "Palestinians and those in support of Palestinian human rights isolated at their place of work and fearful of possible consequences" for discussing how the conflict has affected them.
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