‘Not a word about Palestinians’: Google CEO Sundar Pichai criticised over silence on Palestinian deaths amid Israel-Hamas conflict

In the midst of escalating tensions in the Gaza Strip, as the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) carry out retaliatory airstrikes against Hamas targets, a storm of criticism has erupted on social media around Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Pichai is facing scrutiny for his recent comments condemning Hamas's actions but failing to address the mounting humanitarian crisis and the rising death toll among Palestinians in Gaza.

The controversy began when Pichai took to social media to express his concern for Israeli workers in Google's offices based in Israel, and later, to denounce acts of antisemitism. While these statements were met with approval by some, they triggered a wave of criticism from those who accused him of neglecting the plight of innocent Palestinians caught in the crossfire.

A user named Ariel Koren posted on X, saying, "CEO of my former employer Google @sundarpichai has posted twice about events in Palestine in the past week. First to voice concern for Israeli workers in Google Israel offices. Second to call out antisemitism. But not a word about Palestinians or Palestinian Google workers."

Koren's post gained significant traction on social media, amassing over 400,000 views on X and eliciting a torrent of responses. Many individuals expressed agreement with her viewpoint, lambasting Pichai for what they perceived as his failure to address the Palestinian suffering during this crisis.

Ariel Koren herself continued to vocalise her concerns, asserting, "Sundar said NOTHING when thousands of employees said #NoTechforApartheid & demanded Google stop building AI for the Israeli military. In a week, the military has killed over 2,000 Gazans and ordered 1 million to evacuate or face death. Yet you still say nothing @sundarpichai."

She went on to claim that the Israeli military's actions had left Palestinians with no recourse, cut off vital resources, and left them without electricity or medical care. Koren argued that this amounted to genocide and alleged that Pichai's silence, along with Google's involvement in the #ProjectNimbus contract, was an endorsement of such actions.

Here are some more responses from X