Google’s Sergey Brin calls UN “blatantly antisemitic,” condemns Gaza report
Brin criticizes UN envoy’s accusations that Google profits from ‘genocide’ in Gaza.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin has criticized the United Nations, calling the organization “transparently antisemitic.” Brin made the remarks on Saturday in an internal employee forum, according to screenshots obtained by The Washington Post.
Brin’s comments were in response to a United Nations report published last month that accused technology companies, including Google and its parent company, Alphabet, of profiting from what it called “Israel’s genocide” in Gaza by providing cloud and AI technologies to the Israeli government and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
“With all due respect, throwing around the term genocide in relation to Gaza is deeply offensive to many Jewish people who have suffered actual genocides. I would also be careful citing transparently antisemitic organizations like the UN in relation to these issues,” Brin wrote in a message to an internal forum at Google DeepMind, the company’s artificial intelligence division.
The report highlighted the $1.2 billion cloud computing contract that Israel awarded to Google and Amazon in 2021 as part of Project Nimbus, adding that Google provided the military with “critical cloud and AI infrastructure” after the Hamas attack on October 7.
The UN report was authored by Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories. The U.S. ambassador to the UN has already expressed support for her dismissal, accusing her of anti-Semitism and bias against Israel.
“My comments came in response to an internal discussion that was citing a plainly biased and misleading report,” Brin said in a statement responding to the leaked screenshots.
The company has already faced criticism from employees who object to its business ties with the Israeli military. Google even fired several employees last year who protested the company’s cloud contract with Israel.
Brin, who is Jewish, immigrated to the United States as a child from the Soviet Union with his family.
