By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A Jewish former worker of Intel sued the chipmaker on Tuesday, saying he was fired after complaining that the senior govt he reported to overtly celebrated antisemitism, Hamas and terrorism in opposition to Israel.
The plaintiff, a former vice chairman of engineering utilizing the pseudonym John Doe, stated Intel fired him on April 2 in a purported cost-cutting transfer barely two months after assigning him to report back to Alaa Badr, vice chairman of buyer success.
Intel declined to touch upon the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court docket, saying it doesn’t talk about pending litigation.
“We have now a longtime tradition of range and inclusion and we don’t tolerate hate speech,” it added.
Doe, a former Israel Protection Forces soldier, stated he had expressed discomfort working for Badr, citing the Egyptian native’s retweeting and “liking” of anti-Israel on-line posts, together with posts cheering deaths of Israelis and IDF troopers.
The plaintiff additionally stated Badr requested him whether or not different Intel workers had been Israeli, and upon being advised sure complained there have been “so many Israeli workers in our firm.” Doe stated his substitute additionally overtly espoused anti-Israel sentiments.
Badr and his supervisor are additionally defendants.
“It’s inexcusable that Intel not solely condones one of these conduct however retaliated in opposition to a former (IDF soldier) for complaining about deeply disturbing tropes that had been posted on social media by his boss,” Doe’s lawyer Doug Wigdor stated in an announcement. “This should cease.”
Doe is looking for to recoup misplaced pay and unspecified damages for violations of federal civil rights regulation and New York state and metropolis human rights legal guidelines.
He desires court docket permission to sue anonymously, saying the lawsuit and his IDF service put him at “important hazard of being subjected to harassment, threats, and bodily violence.”
Doe stated he joined Intel in New York Metropolis after the Santa Clara, California-based firm purchased the Israeli startup the place he labored. His attorneys declined to establish the startup.
The criticism additionally highlighted Intel’s enterprise ties to Israel and that the corporate’s first rent was Andrew Grove, a Hungarian-born Jew who later turned chief govt and Time journal’s Man of the 12 months.
The case is Doe v Intel Corp et al, U.S. District Courtroom, Southern District of New York, No. 24-06117.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Enhancing by Daniel Wallis)
