Google's Co-founder Sergey Brin Slams UN Over 'Genocide' Claims
Brin criticized the UN for labeling Israeli actions in Gaza as genocide and warned against citing biased organizations, while defending Google's involvement in Project Nimbus.
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Sergey Brin, Jewish co-founder of Google, called the United Nations "transparently antisemitic" in response to a recent UN report claiming that Google profited from what it described as Israel's genocide in Gaza.
The UN report, published last month, accused tech companies including Google and its parent company Alphabet of providing cloud and AI technologies to the Israeli government and military. It argued that these services supported military operations during the war in Gaza.
Brin made his remarks during an internal Google DeepMind employee forum, reacting to a discussion citing the UN report. "With all due respect," Brin wrote, "the use of the term 'genocide' in relation to Gaza deeply offends many Jewish people who have suffered from actual genocides. I would also be cautious about citing transparently antisemitic organizations like the UN on such matters."
Later, in a statement to The Washington Post, Brin clarified that his comments were in response to "an internal discussion quoting a clearly biased and misleading report."
The report in question was authored by Italian diplomat Francesca Albanese, the UN's Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories. It accused American tech companies of exploiting a profitable business opportunity driven by the Israeli military's data needs under its control over Gaza.
Specifically, the report referenced Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud service deal awarded to Google and Amazon in 2021. According to the report, these companies provided essential cloud and AI capabilities after Israeli military systems were overwhelmed following Hamas's surprise Al Aqsa Flood attack.
The U.S. delegation to the UN last week called on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to condemn Albanese's conduct and remove her from her position, citing antisemitic bias against Israel.
Google has previously dealt with internal employee protests over its ties with Israel. Following the outbreak of the war in Gaza, the company dismissed several employees involved in anti-Israel demonstrations. A January report in The Washington Post noted Google's intent to provide AI technology to the Israeli military following the Hamas assault.