Google’s Global Lead in Diversity called Israelis ‘Jewish extremists’ hungry for violence

He wrote as if he was a Jewish man in modern times. Bobb mentions that it was nearly 80 years after Kristallnacht in order to make a loose comparison to the Jewish identity.

"If I were a Jew I would be concerned about my insatiable appetite for war and killing in defense of myself. Self defense is undoubtedly an instinct, but I would be afraid of my increasing insensitivity to the suffering [of] others. My greatest torment would be that I’ve misinterpreted the identity offered by my history and transposed spiritual and human compassion with self righteous impunity."

Bobb’s site itself is still regularly updated. In April 2021 he made a blog piece about racial tensions in the USA. But that was the most recent entry. There’s nothing in there about last month’s conflict between Israel and Hamas forces in Gaza.

There’s also nothing about the international antisemitic aftermath of the altercation. When pro-Palestinians: threw incendiary devices in New York’s Diamond District, ambushed restaurant-goers in Los Angeles, and shouted obscenities about people of Jewish faith while driving around the streets of London.

Based on what Kamau Bobb wrote in his 2007 blog post, you’d think he’d still have something to say.

“I don’t know how I would reconcile that identity with the behavior of fundamentalist Jewish extremists or of Israel as a nation. The details would confuse me. I wouldn’t understand those who suggest that bombing Lebanon, slaughtering Lebanese people and largely destroying Beirut in retaliation for the capture of a few soldiers is justified. I wouldn’t understand the notion of collective punishment, cutting off gas, electricity and water from residents in Gaza because they are attacking Israel who is fighting against them. It would be unconscionable to me to watch Israeli tanks donning the Star of David rumbling through Ramallah destroying buildings and breaking the glass.”

At the time of this 2007 blog post Kamau Bobb was not at Google yet. According to his Linkedin page he was a research associate at Georgia Tech. It wouldn’t be until September 2018 that Bobb landed his Head of Diversity job at the big tech giant. Where his duties are described as reconsidering “the relationship between industry and higher education to expand capacity in computing education.”

Google’s official company policy perspective seems to mirror their diversity head’s thinking. They’ve got a lengthy post about systemic racism and racial equity.

However the company culture is demonstrably anti-Israel with employees begging management to cut contractual ties with the nation.The company renewed their dealings despite the internal protesting.