Amazon deletes controversial video of exec wearing a necklace showing the Palestinian flag over Israel
Amazon removed a controversial video featuring an executive wearing a necklace of a Palestinian flag on top of Israel this week.
Vice president of global specialists and partner organizations for Amazon Web Services Ruba Borno was featured in a video promoting the company’s upcoming AWS re:Invent conference. Though it wasn’t highlighted, some viewers took notice of the necklace and threatened to cancel their Amazon subscriptions in response.
After a few of days of silence, Amazon deleted the video.
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In a statement to Fox Business, an Amazon spokesperson confirmed the video was removed and will be replaced.
"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," the statement read.
Borno is a Palestinian refugee whose family lived in Kuwait until Saddam Hussein’s invasion in 1990. She and her family relocated to the U.S. with the help of the U.S. embassy shortly afterward. She was hired by Amazon Web Services in November 2021.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Borno also works as a Young Global Leader for the World Economic Forum, where she has been since 2019.
The video came days after the one-year anniversary of the deadly Hamas terror attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, from which 101 people are still being held hostage. Among those people includes Sasha Troufanov, an Amazon employee based in Israel.
Amazon has yet to acknowledge his kidnapping.
However, Amazon CEO Andy Jassey did acknowledge the attack at the time and said he was reaching out to employees in the area and their families.
"The attacks against civilians in Israel are shocking and painful to watch," he wrote, adding that Amazon is assisting "however we can in this very difficult time."
Fox Business' Daniella Genovese contributed to this report.