Google employees demand that the company divest from Israel

As of Tuesday, the letter has received more than 250 signatures. A product marketing manager in Jewish Diaspora in Tech told the Verge that "we were compelled to form our own space because of the fact that we were quite literally not allowed to express our viewpoints in the ERG."

The letter demanded five actions from executive leadership, while stating that "we object to the conflation of Israel with the Jewish people, affirm that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism."

The urged that the company:

"1. Heed the requests of Palestinian Googlers Palestinians are overwhelmingly affected by the militarized colonial violence ocurring [sic] in the region. Please heed the requests framed by Palestinian Googlers and center their voices going forward.

"2. Fund relief for Palestinians affected by military violence We ask Google to fund Palestinian rights organizations and ensure that any support for Israeli humanitarian efforts be matched by support to Palestinian-led human rights and relief efforts.

"3. Recognize the pain We ask Google leadership to make a company-wide statement recognizing the violence in Palestine and Israel, which must include direct recognition of the harm done to Palestinians by Israeli military and gang violence. Both Israelis and Palestinians are hurting right now, but ignoring the destructive and deadly attacks faced by Palestinians erases our Palestinian coworkers.

"4. Protect freedom of speech We ask Google leadership to reject any definition of antisemitism that holds that criticism of Israel or Zionism is antisemitic. Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism and this conflation harms the pursuit of justice for Palestinians and Jews alike by limiting freedom of expression and distracting from real acts of antisemitism [1].

"5. Affirm Google’s commitment to human rights Many of Israel's actions violate the UN human rights principles, which Google is committed to upholding. We request the review of all Alphabet business contracts and corporate donations and the termination of contracts with institutions that support Israeli violations of Palestinian rights, such as the Israeli Defense Forces."

"Google is the world's largest search engine and any repression of freedom of expression occurring within the company is a danger not only to Googlers internally but to all people around the world," said a FAQ from the group.

The new employee resource group, Jewish Diaspora in Tech, was created last year as a direct response to pro-Zionist sentiments expressed within Google's official Jewish ERG "Jewglers."