News

Oct 15, 2024

Amazon executive wears pro-Palestine necklace in promotional video

Company removes video and claims it was ‘not intended to be a political statement’ following backlash on social media A senior Amazon employee has provoked a backlash after wearing a controversial

Company removes video and claims it was ‘not intended to be a political statement’ following backlash on social media

A senior Amazon employee has provoked a backlash after wearing a controversial pro-Palestine necklace in a promotional video for the business.

Ruba Borno, vice president of Global Specialists and Partner Organizations for Amazon Web Services, was seen in an official company video wearing a pendant shaped like the map of Israel emblazoned with the Palestinian flag.

The video was published to promote a company conference set to take place in autumn in Las Vegas.

Ms Borno’s necklace triggered an angry response on social media, with some users claiming it was inappropriate given that another Amazon employee remains a Hamas hostage after being abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz in the terror attack on Oct 7.

Amazon has since removed the video. A spokesman said: “The violence and loss of life happening every day in the Middle East is tragic, and at Amazon, our hearts and thoughts are with any person or community that’s affected.

“Our leadership remains in regular contact with our teams based in the region to offer our support. The video shot was not meant to be a political statement, but we’ve taken down the video and will repost a new one in the coming days.”

Ms Borno, a Palestinian, was reportedly evacuated by the US Embassy from Kuwait with her parents during the first Gulf War in 1990 as her sister had been born in America.

She earned a PhD and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering at the University of Michigan leading to a stint as a principal with the Boston Consulting Group.

Ms Borno spent six years at Cisco, where she became the chief executive’s chief of staff, before joining Amazon in November 2021.

She has been a non-executive director at Experian and a member of the Forum of Young Global Leaders - a non-profit organization created by Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum.

As calls for Ms Borno’s resignation grow louder, it appears Ms Borno has made her X and LinkedIn accounts private or removed them altogether.

In wake of the video, some people posted online that they had cancelled their Prime subscription and called for others to follow suit.

Some identified the area dedicated by the flag as Palestine as comprising the West Bank, Gaza Strip and territory which is today Israel in a manner which resembles the protest chant “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.

Others said the video was highly inappropriate given Sasha Troufanov, an employee at Amazon subsidiary Annapurna Labs, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz in the Hamas terror attack on Oct 7. The 28-year-old hardware engineer remains in captivity.

An Instagram account with the handle “troufanov_family” and the name “bring Sasha Home Now!” reshared a post criticising Ms Borno and saying “shame on you @‌amazon”. It added: “Your employee Sasha has been held hostage in Gaza since October 2023.”

The story is followed by a photograph of a takeaway cup with the caption #coffee4Sasha - an initiative Troufanov’s colleagues launched encouraging supporters to drink coffee at 3pm which was a tradition of Troufanov.