NJ handyman refuses to take jobs from Jewish clients in 'solidarity with the Palestinian People'

A handyman employed through TaskRabbit in northern New Jersey has said that he will not accept any more Jewish clients "to express my solidarity with the Palestinian People."

Melquisedec Francis, who is labeled as an "elite tasker" on the handyman hiring platform, posted to LinkedIn on Tuesday, "I am expressing my solidarity with the Palestinian People until the war in Gaza is resolved. And as a result, I am currently not offering my services to the Jewish Community."

Francis posted a screenshot of a message he received from a Jewish LinkedIn user who noted the change in Francis’ profile regarding not taking Jewish clients which said, "If this is you, your career is basically over. Just a heads up."

Francis’ Tuesday post continued, "That being said, If I have, in some way, shape or form, offended you, your country, or your people, my dear Jewish Community, that was and is not my intention. If I have, let me apologize. I am sorry."

"If, somehow, my dear Jewish Community, still feel that no one else, no other human being in the world, but me, must provide the Jewish Community with the service that it so desires, that it must find ways to attack me and to terminate my career, in utter, absolute protest, then let me say this to my dear Jewish Community: God be with you all."

TaskRabbit was made aware of Francis’ post, and said in a post to X that Francis’ account had been deactivated.

"Recently, Taskrabbit was made aware of a discriminatory comment written by a Tasker on the platform. This comment does not represent the views of Taskrabbit. We want to reiterate that Taskrabbit does not condone discrimination of any kind, including antisemitism, on our platform."

"We immediately took action to ensure Taskrabbit remains a safe place for all users. As of yesterday, we began an internal investigation and deactivated this Tasker’s account."

Following the deactivation of his account, Francis posted to LinkedIn, "I do not support hammas [sic]. Nor I support Israel. I did not offend, insulted nor denied my services to any Jewish. I was taken off the platform for saying that in order to protest the war in Gaza, and until the war in Gaza comes to a conclusion, I won't confirm job request from the Jewish Community."

"I being unemployed and with no means of self-subsistence will change nothing about the atrocities of the world. That being said, calling my phone number, harassing me on this website, leaving threats and insults will avail you all nothing."