Amazon Faces Boycott After Executive Sparks Outrage Wearing Pro-Palestinian Necklace
An Amazon executive is facing social media fallout after wearing a pro-Palestinian necklace in a company video, resulting in many Prime users threatening to cancel their subscriptions.
Dr. Ruba Borno, Amazon Web Services (AWS) vice president of Global Specialists and Partner Organizations, was seen wearing the necklace as she promoted a company conference that is scheduled to take place in Las Vegas this fall.
The necklace, shaped like Israel and adorned with a Palestinian flag, symbolized the Palestinian call for an independent state.
Many social media users saw the manuever as an outrage, as the company remains silent as Sasha Troponov, an Israeli employee, remains in captivity after he was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Amazon has received backlash for not publicly demanding his release.
Many Prime users announced on X that they would be cancelling their subscriptions and demanded that the 42-year-old be terminated.
“How about all Jews and Israel loving Americans boycott Amazon for one week. That’s the only power we have to make a dent in Amazon Jew hatred,” one user wrote.
“Ruba Borno one of yours? Wearing the antisemitic necklace? Look, it’s hate speech, and frankly, really bad messaging to support mass rapists. Fix this or I’m cancelling,” another user wrote.
Some users directly addressed Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos about the incident.
“@amazon @PrimeVideo @JeffBezos a few weeks ago I cancelled my subscription to Netflix because of their political contributions,” one user wrote. “Now, I’m faced with Ruba’s video and will cancel my prime video subscription unless she is terminated. Tick tock.”
Borno, a Palestinian from Kuwait, came to the U.S. with her parents during the first Gulf War in 1990, the Daily Mail reports. She received her degrees in electrical engineering from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the University of Michigan.
After losing thousands of subscribers, Amazon has since deleted the video and expressed that it was not meant to be political.
“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,” an Amazon spokesperson said.
Borno has appeared to have deleted and privatized her social media accounts. She was hired by the company in November 2021.
She has also worked for Experian, Cisco and the Boston Consulting Group. This is not the only controversy Amazon has faced.
Last month, TTOA reported that the company faced criticism after it was discovered that Amazon’s Alexa was being politically biased when asked questions about former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
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