Google co-founder Sergey Brin blasted the United Nations as “transparently antisemitic” on Saturday in an internal forum for employees, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
Brin was responding to a report by an independent U.N. expert published in June which accused Google and its parent company Alphabet of profiting from “Israel’s economy of illegal occupation, apartheid and now genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza.
The Google leader condemned the report in an internal forum where staff members were discussing it, according to the Washington Post.
“With all due respect, throwing around the term genocide in relation to Gaza is deeply offensive to many Jewish people who have suffered actual genocides,” he wrote. “I would also be careful citing transparently antisemitic organizations like the U.N. in relation to these issues.”
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Amazon, Google and Alphabet Inc. were among the tech companies accused in the U.N. report of profiting off the war in Gaza by providing cloud and AI technologies to the Israeli government and military.
The report highlights Alphabet’s $1.2 billion “Project Nimbus” contract between Israel and the tech giants that provided “critical cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure” to Israel’s military after its internal cloud overloaded after the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas.
The report was authored and presented by U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese, a controversial figure who has been condemned by multiple nations for allegedly making antisemitic remarks.
In her latest report, she called for sanctions against “entities and individuals involved in activities that may endanger the Palestinians.”
She also urged corporations to “cease business activities” and relationships with those causing “human rights violations and international crimes against the Palestinian people,” and called on corporations to “pay reparations” to Palestinians.
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According to the Post, Brin’s remarks “upset and confused” some Google employees.
Last year, Google workers held protests against the company’s contract with the Israeli military. The tech workers accused Google of enabling “Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.”
A spokesperson for Brin defended his remarks to the Post.
“My comments came in response to an internal discussion that was citing a plainly biased and misleading report,” he told the paper.
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The U.N. and Google did not immediately return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday afternoon the U.S. was imposing sanctions on Albanese “for her illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt (International Criminal Court) action against U.S. and Israeli officials, companies, and executives.”
Rubio accused Albanese of writing “threatening letters to dozens of entities worldwide, including major American companies across finance, technology, defense, energy, and hospitality, making extreme and unfounded accusations and recommending the ICC pursue investigations and prosecutions of these companies and their executives. We will not tolerate these campaigns of political and economic warfare, which threaten our national interests and sovereignty.”
The U.S. Mission to the U.N. opposed the renewal of Albanese’s appointment and called for her removal on July 1, citing her “years-long pattern of virulent antisemitism and unrelenting anti-Israel bias.”
When reached for comment earlier this month about the backlash to the report, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights told Fox News Digital that Albanese works on a voluntary basis and does not receive a salary from them.
“While the U.N. Human Rights office acts as the secretariat for special procedures, the experts serve in their individual capacity and are independent from any government or organization, including OHCHR and the U.N.,” OHCHR’s media team told Fox News Digital last week. “Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the U.N. or OHCHR.”
Fox News’ Rachel Wolf contributed to this report.
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