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Tech Workers’ Testimonies: Stories of Suppression of Palestinian Advocacy in the Workplace

7amleh

The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media has released a new report titled, “Delete the Issue: Tech Worker Testimonies on Palestinian Advocacy and Workplace Suppression.” The report, the first of its kind, shares testimonies gathered from current and former employees in major technology companies, including Meta, Google, PayPal, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and Cisco. It highlights their experiences supporting Palestinian rights in the workplace and the companies’ efforts to restrict freedom of expression on the matter. The report includes 25 testimonies that shed light on the censorship and discriminatory policies faced by employees advocating for Palestinian rights in their work environments, reflecting a systemic and structural bias against supporters of Palestinian rights within tech companies. It reveals that these companies disproportionately remove and silence content supporting Palestinian rights, whether it be explicit support for freedom and independence, humanitarian sympathy for Palestinian war victims, or even educational content.

International Civil Society Condemns Targeting of Journalists in Gaza and Lebanon

7amleh

Statement on the Targeting and Killing of Journalists in Palestine and Lebanon As of today, Palestinian civil society organizations have reported that over 180 journalists have been killed during Israel’s genocidal attack in Gaza, in addition to at least 12 killed in Israeli attacks targeting journalists in Lebanon - a harrowing testament to the ongoing threat journalists face in carrying out their essential work. This pattern of deliberate targeting, often justified by unfounded allegations, has reached alarming new levels. Just last week, Israeli forces leveled baseless accusations against six Al Jazeera journalists, among the last remaining journalists in northern Gaza, labeling them as “terrorists” to justify potential further attacks on those reporting the reality on the ground. Such accusations, devoid of evidence and aimed at silencing witnesses to the atrocities unfolding in northern Gaza, are especially egregious as journalists remain the only voice for the civilians experiencing forced displacement under what some have called the “General’s Plan.”

Anthropic teams up with Palantir and AWS to sell AI to defense customers

TechCrunch

Anthropic on Thursday said it is teaming up with data analytics firm Palantir and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to provide U.S. intelligence and defense agencies access to Anthropic’s Claude family of AI models. The news comes as a growing number of AI vendors look to ink deals with U.S. defense customers for strategic and fiscal reasons. Meta recently revealed that it is making its Llama models available to defense partners, while OpenAI is seeking to establish a closer relationship with the U.S. Defense Department. Anthropic’s head of sales, Kate Earle Jensen, said the company’s collaboration with Palantir and AWS will “operationalize the use of Claude” within Palantir’s platform by leveraging AWS hosting. Claude became available on Palantir’s platform earlier this month and can now be used in Palantir’s defense-accredited environment, Palantir Impact Level 6 (IL6).

'A genocide is not the time to be silent about Palestine': Calls for boycott grow following Netflix's poor response to erasure of Palestinian Stories collection'

The New Arab 

In recent weeks, Netflix has found itself at the centre of an emerging boycott campaign after failing to respond to a petition against the non-renewal of its Palestinian Stories collection, a set of 32 films about Palestinian life or by Palestinian filmmakers. The petition was first published on 25 October, as a coalition effort led by Freedom Forward, which campaigns to end US support for non-democratic governments. It was signed by over 30 organisations, including the women’s activism group CODEPINK, which works to cultivate local “peace economies.” To date, CODEPINK has supported a number of successful BDS campaigns, raising public awareness of brands such as Ahava beauty products and SodaStream.