Google co-founder Sergey Brin called the United Nations “transparently antisemitic” in an internal forum for employees Saturday, according to screenshots obtained by the Washington Post.
The comments, which came in response to a recent U.N. report accusing Google of profiting from “the genocide carried out by Israel,” are notable because Brin, one of the richest people in the world with an estimated net worth of $138 million, has not publicly shared his views on antisemitism, Israel and the war in Gaza.
Brin rarely posts in the forum for staff of the company’s artificial intelligence division but weighed in as workers were debating the recent U.N. report, the Washington Post reported.
“With all due respect, throwing around the term genocide in relation to Gaza is deeply offensive to many Jewish people who have suffered actual genocides,” wrote Brin, who is Jewish and immigrated to the United States with his parents when he was 6 to escape antisemitism in the Soviet Union.
“I would also be careful citing transparently antisemitic organizations like the UN in relation to these issues,” he added.
Brin’s commentary was in response to the recent report by the U.N. special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, who has been regularly accused of anti-Israel and antisemitic bias by pro-Israel groups. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the United States would place sanctions on Albanese over her collaboration with the International Criminal Court’s efforts to prosecute Israelis.
The report, titled “From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide,” recommends corporate entities “cease all business activities” linked with “human rights violations and international crimes against the Palestinian people.”
It also accuses technology firms including Google and its parent company Alphabet of profiting from “the genocide carried out by Israel” by providing cloud and AI technologies to the Israeli government and military.
The report is not the first time Google has drawn criticism for its ties with Israel. In April 2024, Google fired 28 employees who staged a sit-in to protest a company deal to sell technology to Israel.
Brin left his daily responsibilities at Google in 2019, along with co-founder Larry Page, but returned to help the company’s artificial intelligence efforts following the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022. Page is also Jewish and also has not commented publicly on Israel or the war in Gaza.
In response to an inquiry from the Washington Post, a spokesperson for Brin said his “comments came in response to an internal discussion that was citing a plainly biased and misleading report.”
