PRESS RELEASE: Replace Anti-Semitic Amazon Labor Union President

by Aaron Troodler

8/1/2023, 8:49:34 PM

The Israel Heritage Foundation today called for the removal of Amazon Labor Union President Christian Smalls after he participated in a June 26th protest where attendees openly accused Israel of taking part in apartheid and genocide.

The protest came in the wake of a contract entered into between Amazon and Alphabet, which is the parent company of Google, and the State of Israel for cloud computing services. Smalls, who heads the union that is comprised of over 8,000 Amazon employees, also used his personal and union Twitter accounts to retweet and “like” posts that criticized the “Israeli apartheid regime” and “Israeli apartheid.”

The Algemeiner reported that attendees at the protest held signs proclaiming, “Zionism is Genocide,” “Israeli Apartheid and Genocide Funded by the US,” and “Amazon Profit$ Off Israel’s Military Occupation.” One of the event’s organizers and speakers was Linda Sarsour, who has a history of making antisemitic statements, denigrating the State of Israel, and supporting the antisemitic BDS movement. During her remarks at the protest, Sarsour said, “I want you all to know that while the Palestinian people are suffering oppression, brutality, and murder and genocide at the hands of the state of Israel, they’re still resilient.”

“For Christian Smalls to use his public platform as the Amazon Labor Union president to attack the State of Israel and broadcast hateful antisemitic rhetoric is an utter disgrace and unequivocal grounds for removal,” said Farley Weiss, chairman of the Israel Heritage Foundation. “This shameful protest was a hotbed of antisemitism, and the brazen demonization of Israel by longtime antisemite Linda Sarsour and others, including Christian Smalls, is contemptible. Amazon employees deserve to have a union head that is looking out for their best interests, rather than someone like Christian Smalls, who spends his time spewing antisemitism and assailing the State of Israel. It is time for him to go.”

“In the wake of the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passing a resolution supporting Israel and asserting that Israel is not racist nor an apartheid state, and considering the IHRA working definition of antisemitism, which maintains that accusing Israel of committing apartheid is antisemitic, it is outrageous that Christian Smalls’ abhorrent antisemitic actions would not lead to a swift and strong condemnation,” added Weiss. “There must be a zero-tolerance policy within Amazon for bigotry and antisemitism, particularly when it comes to an individual like Christian Smalls, who has a prominent position and wields a fair amount of power. The Amazon Labor Union needs to make it explicitly clear that it will not permit antisemitism to fester within its ranks and remove Christian Smalls from his leadership role.”