Image: Kamau Bobb. Source: kamaubobb.com

Google reassigned its global diversity lead Kamau Bobb after his antisemitic comments from a 2007 blog post resurfaced this week. 

Several Jewish human rights groups including the Simon Wiesenthal Center called for Google to fire Bobb, according to Forbes

On Thursday, the Alphabet Inc (Nasdaq: GOOGL) subsidiary said that Bobb apologized for his remarks and will no longer be part of the diversity team. The company stated that Bobb has been reassigned to work in STEM education at Google. 

In a statement Google said, “We unequivocally condemn the past writings by a member of our diversity team that are causing deep offense and pain to members of our Jewish community and our LGBTQ+ community.”

“This has come at a time when we’ve seen an alarming increase in antisemitic attacks,” the company said. “Antisemitism is a vile prejudice that has given rise to unfathomable acts. It has no place in society and we stand with our Jewish community in condemning it.”

Bobb’s removal as diversity chief comes a few days after The Washington Free Beacon reported on his November 2007 blog post titled “If I Were A Jew.” (The blog post has since been deleted but remains archived here.)

In his post, Bobb condemned Israel’s 2007 military activity in Gaza and Lebanon, writing that his “sensibilities would be tormented” if he were a Jew.

“If I were a Jew, I would be concerned about my insatiable appetite for war and killing in defense of myself,” wrote Bobb, who added, “I don’t know how I would reconcile that identity with the behavior of fundamentalist Jewish extremists or of Israel as a nation.”

Bobb, who joined Google as global lead on diversity strategy and research in September 2018, was working as a research associate in technology at Georgia Institute of Technology when he wrote the post.

He has not responded to requests for comment from multiple outlets.

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Source: Equities News