Earlier this week, more than 1,000 employees of Apple, Inc. signed onto a letter drafted by the Apple Muslim Association (AMA) calling on CEO Tim Cook to make public the tech giant's belief that "Palestinian lives matter."
The AMA's letter, first made public by The Verge, says employees feel "sadness, anger, frustration, and disappointment" due to the "struggle and pain of the Palestinian people and their decades-long existence under military occupation."
"Many of those in positions of power and influence—who boldly stand for human rights in so many other just causes—either choose to remain silent or release ineffectually neutral 'both sides' statements with regards to the Palestinian situation," the letter continues.
In a jumble of intersectional blather, the AMA letter acknowledges Apple employees' "privilege to grow up in free societies, where the rights of movement, safety, education and opportunity are commonplace" before outlining how the Apple Muslim Association has "expressed our solidarity" with "our Black and Brown communities in their fight for justice and equity," "support our Asian communities in the face of anti-Asian hate and attacks," and "supported teammates from multiple nations as they dealt with the anxiety of the travel ban."
Following the AMA's humble-brag about how they've stood in "solidarity" with other intersectional identities, they declare that "staying silent on the plight of the Palestinian people... is no longer something we can do."
"We believe Apple's public commitment to respecting internationally recognized human rights must also extend explicitly and clearly to the Palestinian people," they also note before listing their demands:
- That Apple makes clear, internally and externally, that we believe that Palestinian lives matter.
- That Apple makes clear that, as determined by the United Nations, millions of Palestinian people currently suffer under an illegal occupation. And that this fact has been reasserted through numerous international resolutions and supported by hundreds of nations.
- That apple makes clear that the above statement do NOT in any way take away from the human rights of our Jewish brothers and sisters worldwide.
- That Apple makes clear that the above statements do NOT in any way advocate or support terrorism of any kind upon any people, worldwide.
- That Apple DOES NOT make any statement referring to the Palestinian situation as a “conflict” “clash” or similar, as those words imply a power symmetry that simply does not exist.
- That Apple DOES NOT make any statement referring to “both sides” or similar, as doing so would feel to us as the equivalent of “all lives matter” — a minimization of the disproportionately larger pain and suffering of the Palestinian people.
- That Apple commit to spending equitable time and effort to learn about and engage with the Palestinian community, as we do for the many other diverse communities which make ip our company.
Notably absent from the Apple employees' letter: condemnation of Hamas terrorism or recognition of Israel's right to exist. And any mention of Apple's alleged support for human rights should be considered generally laughable given their public opposition to ending China's practice of forced labor.
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