Amazon has been criticized since the beginning of the Iron Sword War for its silence on the fact that one of its employees in Israel, Sasha Trofanov, was kidnapped to the Gaza Strip on October 7. Trufanov works in the Annapurna Laboratories Department. The company's subsidiary is responsible for developing artificial intelligence chips for its cloud servers. Since October 7, except for an internal email sent by the head of Amazon Israel to employees in Israel, the company has not officially commented on the kidnapping nor publicly called for his release, as Nvidia did, for example, in the case of its kidnapping. Engineer Avinatan Or.
It now appears, from correspondence reaching the Globes, that behind Amazon's low public profile lies a policy. In the first weeks of the war, the group's organizers advised members of the Jewish Affiliation Group of Amazon Employees outside Israel not to hang posters expressing their identification with Trufanov, at the request of Amazon's senior human resources staff.
An employee who is a member of the group said: “There was an initiative to put up posters showing how long Trufanov worked at Amazon versus the number of days he was held hostage, but the instructions were not to display them.” When the group leaders requested instructions in writing, they were refused.
Despite the instructions, Amazon employees in Israel began putting up posters related to Trufanov, and a poster calling for regular meetings titled “Coffee with Sasha.” Some employees participated in volunteer activities calling for his release, and took photos of themselves wearing T-shirts printed with his picture and the Amazon Prime logo. As far as is known, Amazon has tolerated this activity. The range of emojis on Amazon has been expanded with an icon representing Sasha. The events were held with the participation of his family and his girlfriend, Safir Cohen, who was also kidnapped and released as part of the deal with Hamas.
But at Amazon offices around the world, people are afraid to engage in such identification work. Some of those who spoke to Globes explained that there was frustration with the silence of the global company's management. “So far, we have not heard a word about Trofanov from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy or anyone who is not part of Amazon Israel. In fact, there were Jewish employees around the world who are still, two or three months after the massacre, I don't know that Amazon It has an employee being held hostage in the Gaza Strip.”
Last November, Nita Yesod Alon, a close friend of Trufanov, and her friends, organized a protest at the Amazon Web Services re:Invent conference in Las Vegas, where the Graviton processor, one of the engines of Amazon's success, was located. Cloud services that Truvanov worked on were demonstrated. They rented trucks that displayed Trufanov's picture and distributed T-shirts. “The various activities undertaken by employees to express their connection to Trofanov were met with disregard from the global management,” says Yesod Alon. “Amazon Israel provides assistance with what is needed, but if it is not communicated to the outside world, who is the message to?
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Amazon remains silent about the employee being held hostage in Gaza
“It raises a lot of questions. Amazon prides itself on being the best employer in the world and is at the forefront of important campaigns like Black Lives Matter, but when it comes to an employee being held hostage in Gaza, they see it as worthwhile.” Political issue.
“Instead of surrounding Amazon's building with signs demanding his release, they hired a worker to tell us that any public expression would put him in danger. They made it clear to activists and family that any public activity in Amazon's name would put Trofanov in danger.” They do not want to turn Sasha into the poster child of the hostages, because that would increase his value. We asked former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen whether these arguments were valid, and his answer was unequivocal. “
In response, Amazon said: “We remain focused at all times on all efforts to bring Sasha home safely and to ensure his family is supported at this difficult time. Our thoughts are with them and with all those who continue to be affected by the disease.” the war.”
Published by Globes, Israel Business News – en.globes.co.il – on May 26, 2024.
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