Google employee resigns after ‘retaliation’ for protesting Israeli contract

This is the result of the clash between naïve idealism and the realities of revenue (and maybe some realpolitik). Undermining company revenue, usually isn't met with enthusiasm.

"Instead of listening to employees who want Google to live up to its ethical principles"

But Google is.

It is ethics that this person disagrees with (me too) but "index the world's data" is, to paraphrase, Google's sole mission

“In her statement, Koren also singled out “Jewglers,” a forum for Jewish Google employees, for not accommodating Jews who hold anti-Zionist views.”

Zionism is the belief that Israel has the right to exist, and that Jews have the right to live in Israel.

If you are against this, your views are quite extremist and it is hard to find understanding and accommodation, particularly among fellow Jews.

> “Due to retaliation, a hostile environment, and illegal actions by the company, I cannot continue to work at Google and have no choice but to leave the company at the end of this week,” Ariel Koren said in a statement posted Tuesday to Medium.

Many people is missing the point. "Retaliation" is illegal.

> Google denied retaliation and the National Labor Relations Board found no wrongdoing after an investigation

In my experience this kind of investigation have very high standards on what is considered "retaliation" as it is very difficult to prove that negating promotions, or moving people to new positions is directly related to "retaliation". Maybe it was just a misunderstanding by the employee, but I would like to see more realistic investigations that take into account the timing of the companies actions.

I don’t know if it’s fair to call it naïve idealism. There’s lots of reasons to get frustrated working at google, and when you see that they’re participating in an apartheid system it’s worth protesting and trying to get them to change, even if you don’t believe chances of success are high. You can be realistic (rather than naïve) and still feel it is worthwhile to protest, and to quit if that fails. The publicity of the protest also helps other people avoid the mistake of working for a company that supports or is indifferent to apartheid.