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Amazon Executive Video Taken Down Over Necklace

Amazon seems to have found itself in the middle of yet another PR nightmare, and this one’s causing quite a stir.

An Amazon executive, Ruba Borno, was featured in a promotional video wearing a pendant that raised more than a few eyebrows. The necklace in question was a map of Israel, but it was emblazoned with the Palestinian flag, which has understandably ignited some serious backlash. People are calling for boycotts, and Amazon is scrambling to clean up the mess.

Let’s set the scene. Borno, who serves as Amazon Web Services VP of Global Specialists and Partner Organizations, appeared in a video promoting a company conference in Las Vegas. But the focal point quickly became her pendant, which depicts the entire map of Israel along with the West Bank and Gaza—territories Palestinians claim for an independent state—draped in a Palestinian flag. As you can imagine, the symbolism wasn’t lost on anyone, especially considering the political climate.

The timing couldn’t be worse. Amazon has been shockingly silent about one of its own employees, Sasha Troufanov, who Hamas abducted during the October 7th attacks. Troufanov, an Israeli engineer, remains a hostage, along with members of his family, while his father was brutally murdered. And yet, here’s a top Amazon exec sporting a necklace that effectively erases Israel from the map. You don’t have to be a geopolitical expert to see why people are furious.

Amazon quickly pulled the video, issuing a half-baked statement claiming it wasn’t meant to be political and promising to repost a new version soon. But the damage was done. Social media erupted with users calling for Borno’s termination, tagging Jeff Bezos and vowing to cancel their Prime subscriptions. One person even declared they’re switching to Temu—ouch, when people are opting for knockoff products to make a point, you know it’s bad.

And in the wake of all this, Borno quietly deleted her X account. Smart move, considering the firestorm. But the real question is, how did Amazon let this slip through in the first place? Are they so out of touch with the current climate that no one thought a map erasing Israel might stir up a little controversy?

Of course, as always, there were a few voices saying this was no big deal, calling it a “reach” or saying it’s not worth getting mad about. Well, when one of the largest tech companies in the world allows one of its execs to sport a political statement like that, people are going to take notice—and not in a good way.

Amazon may think removing the video fixes the problem, but the bigger issue is the signal it sends. At a time when tensions in the Middle East are at an all-time high, and with one of their own employees still a hostage, wearing a symbol that erases Israel is tone-deaf at best and inflammatory at worst. And for a company that prides itself on being a global leader, this kind of gaffe is a pretty bad look.

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