The ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza has triggered tense, at times hostile, reckonings across American tech companies over their role in the killing. Since October 7, tech workers have agitated for greater transparency about their employers’ work for the Israeli military and at times vehemently protested those contracts.
IBM, which has worked with the Israeli military since the 1960s, is no exception: For months after the war’s start, workers repeatedly pressed company leadership — including its chief executive — to divulge and limit its role in the Israeli offensive that has so far killed over 40,000 Palestinians. For many workers, the question of where IBM might draw the line with foreign governments is particularly fraught given the company’s grim track record of selling computers and services to both apartheid South Africa and Nazi Germany.
On June 6, CEO Arvind Krishna addressed these concerns in a livestreamed video Q&A session.
For IBM workers worried about where the company draws the line, his response has sparked only greater consternation. ….more
