A former Jewish employee of Intel sued the chipmaker on Tuesday, August 13, saying he was fired after complaining that the senior executive he reported to openly celebrated antisemitism, Hamas and terrorism against Israel.
The plaintiff, a former vice president of engineering using the alias John Doe, said Intel fired him on Tuesday, April 2, 2024, in a purported cost-cutting move barely two months after assigning him to report to Alaa Badr, vice president of customer success.
Intel declined to comment on the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court, saying it does not discuss pending litigation.
“We have a longtime culture of diversity and inclusion and we do not tolerate hate speech,” it added.
Doe, a former Israel Defence Forces soldier, said he had expressed discomfort working for Badr, citing the Egyptian native’s retweeting and “liking” of anti-Israel online posts, including posts cheering deaths of Israelis and IDF soldiers.
The plaintiff also said Badr asked him whether other Intel employees were Israeli, and upon being told yes complained there were “so many Israeli employees in our company.” Doe said his replacement also openly espoused anti-Israel sentiments.
Badr and his supervisor are also defendants.
“It is inexcusable that Intel not only condones this type of behaviour but retaliated against a former (IDF soldier) for complaining about deeply disturbing tropes that were posted on social media by his boss,” Doe’s lawyer Doug Wigdor said in a statement. “This must stop.”
Doe is seeking to recoup lost pay and unspecified damages for violations of federal civil rights law and New York state and city human rights laws.
He wants court permission to sue anonymously, saying the lawsuit and his IDF service put him in “significant danger of being subjected to harassment, threats, and physical violence.”
Doe said he joined Intel in New York City after the Santa Clara, California-based company bought the Israeli startup where he worked. His lawyers declined to identify the startup.
