The truth about #CyberMonday

will you demand #NoTechForApartheid?

As salaamu alaykum, Indiana—

It's #CyberMonday: one of the most profitable days of the year for both Amazon and Google. It's also the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

Here's why that matters: 

This past October, over 1,000 Amazon and Google workers joined forces to demand their employers pull out of Project Nimbus – a $1.2 billion contract that appears to provide services to the Israeli military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. 

By doing business with Israeli apartheid, Amazon and Google will make it easier for the Israeli government to surveil Palestinians and force them off their land.  

Indiana, we need a grassroots mobilization of dedicated people like you to join in and demand these tech giants stop fueling ethnic cleansing and occupation.

Over 29,000 people have already taken action in solidarity with workers demanding Amazon and Google cut ties with the Israeli military—but we need thousands more to fight these Big Tech war profiteers.

Will you join us this #CyberMonday in sending an email to Google and Amazon execs with just one click? 

In the past month, numerous examples of how tech-powered surveillance and oppression is a daily reality for Palestinians living under apartheid have come to light. 

We've learned:

• The Israeli government monitors and listens in on virtually every phone conversation in the West Bank and Gaza, according to a leak from the Israeli Army's intelligence unit.¹
• The Israeli military is widely expanding the use of facial recognition technology to "enhance" its surveillance of Palestinians in the West Bank—even encouraging Israeli settlers to spy on Palestinians, according to The Washington Post.²
• Tech giant Facebook disproportionately targets posts by Palestinian activists — a practice Facebook employees are openly questioning, according to ABC News.³

This is the kind of data collection, surveillance, and criminalization that Google and Amazon could be enabling through Project Nimbus. The companies signed the contract this past May as the Israeli military leveled entire residential buildings⁴ and clinics⁵ in Gaza, and threatened to push Palestinian families out of their homes in Jerusalem.⁶

We need to take immediate action to end this contract. With one click, email Amazon and Google execs to demand they stop doing business with Israel's apartheid government. 

Let's declare together: #NoTechForApartheid.

Thank you for everything that you do to further justice.

In solidarity,

Lau, Sijal, Sadaf and the MPower Change team

P.S. If you've already sent an email, no problem! Amplify our message on Twitter and Instagram.

Sources:

1."Israel can monitor every telephone call in West Bank and Gaza, says intelligence source," Middle East Eye, Nov 15, 2021.

2. "Israel escalates surveillance of Palestinians with facial recognition program in West Bank," Washington Post, Nov 8, 2021.

3. "Facebook employees questioned apparent restrictions on Palestinian activist's account: Documents," ABC News, Oct 29, 2021.

4. "Israel's bombing of Gaza apartment buildings could be a war crime, human rights groups warn," Business Insider, May 13, 3021.

5. "An Israeli airstrike damaged Gaza's only lab for processing coronavirus tests, officials said," New York Times, May 18,  2019.

6. "Sheikh Jarrah residents speak out on Israel's forced expulsions," Al Jazeera, May 11, 2021.