Google Diversity Chief Will Remain at Company in Wake of Anti-Semitic Remarks

Kamau Bobb will no longer work on diversity strategy after saying Jews have ‘insatiable appetite for war’

Alana Goodman • June 3, 2021 11:30 am

Google’s global lead for diversity strategy will stay with the company after an uproar over his anti-Semitic comments but will no longer work on diversity issues, according to a Google press statement on Thursday.

Kamau Bobb will now focus on science and technology education, the company said. Bobb was already a member of Google’s computer science education team, a media consultant for Google told the Washington Free Beacon on Wednesday.

The decision follows calls from Jewish groups, such as the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Stand With Us, for Google to fire Bobb. Google broke its silence days after the Free Beacon reported Tuesday on a 2007 blog post in which Bobb claimed that Jews have an “insatiable appetite for war.”

“We unequivocally condemn the past writings by a member of our diversity team that are causing deep offense and pain to members of our Jewish community and our LGBTQ+ community. These writings are unquestionably hurtful,” said Google in the statement. “The author acknowledges this and has apologized. He will no longer be part of our diversity team going forward and will focus on his STEM work.”

Bobb sent an email apology late Tuesday to a listserv of Jewish Google employees, known within the company as the “Jewglers,” saying his anti-Semitic tirade was “intended as a critique of particular military action.”

“[T]he world is leaving us all feeling unsafe and unsettled right now. i certainly don’t want to contribute to that,” he wrote. “[N]one of this changes or excuses the words i wrote – but i am deeply sorry for them.”

In Bobb’s blog 2007 post, titled “If I Were a Jew,” he offered his thoughts on how Jews should view the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“If I were a Jew I would be concerned about my insatiable appetite for war and killing in defense of myself,” he wrote in the Nov. 30, 2007, post on his personal blog, where he was still actively publishing as recently as April 2021. “Self defense is undoubtedly an instinct, but I would be afraid of my increasing insensitivity to the suffering [of] others.”

Bobb appears to have deleted the blog post Thursday. A copy is still available on Internet Archive.