‘You sneak into countries’: Apple sacks employee over antisemitic Instagram message

Natasha Dach, a former worker of Apple, was fired by the tech large for posting a controversial and hateful message about Jewish individuals on her Instagram account. In her submit, which was shared by a pro-Israel watchdog group referred to as StopAntisemitism, Dach claimed to be “a proud German” and accused Jews of being “murderers and thieves” who “sneak into international locations, steal individuals’s lives, jobs, houses, streets, push them, bully them, torture them”.She additionally referred to as Jews “terrorists” and stated that historical past would observe their crimes.
Dach’s submit was broadly condemned by social media customers, who tagged Apple and its CEO Tim Cook dinner, and demanded motion towards her. Some additionally questioned her loyalty to the US and her sympathy for Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that’s designated as a terrorist group by the US and plenty of different international locations.
Dach, who labored as a technical specialist and supervisor apprentice at Apple, in response to her now-deleted LinkedIn profile, deleted her Instagram and LinkedIn accounts after receiving backlash for her remarks. She was additionally faraway from Apple’s official worker listing. StopAntisemitism later tweeted that she “is not an worker at Apple”.

Liora Rez, the manager director of StopAntisemitism, advised The New York Submit that they realized of Dach’s termination from a confidential supply inside Apple. She additionally stated that Dach’s submit was “horrifying” and “one of many worst circumstances of antisemitism” they’d seen.
Apple has not commented publicly on Dach’s case, however the firm has a coverage of zero tolerance for discrimination and harassment in its office. In keeping with its web site, Apple “is dedicated to creating and sustaining a piece atmosphere the place all workers are handled with dignity and respect” and “doesn’t tolerate any type of discrimination or harassment primarily based on race, coloration, faith, intercourse, gender id or expression, sexual orientation, nationwide origin, incapacity, age, or every other foundation protected by regulation”.
Dach’s case will not be the primary time that an Apple worker has been fired for posting offensive content material on social media. In 2019, Antonio García Martínez, a former product supervisor at Apple, was fired after his previous misogynistic and racist tweets resurfaced on-line. Martínez had additionally written a controversial e book referred to as Chaos Monkeys, by which he described his expertise working at Fb and Silicon Valley.
Dach’s case additionally highlights the difficulty of antisemitism and hate speech on social media, which has elevated lately, particularly within the context of the Israel-Palestine battle.
Social media platforms, reminiscent of X, previously Twitter, Fb, and Instagram, have confronted criticism and strain for not doing sufficient to fight antisemitism and hate speech on their platforms. They’ve additionally been accused of making use of inconsistent or biased requirements when moderating such content material.