Good Friday was anything but good for Palestinians – War on Gaza Day 560

US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee in provocative ‘prayer’ visit to East Jerusalem’s Western Wall

Newly appointed envoy Mike Huckabee marked his first official appearance as US ambassador to Israel by visiting the Western Wall on Friday, located near the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, where he placed a prayer-letter said to be written by US President Donald Trump. 

“My first act as ambassador was to take his prayer- praying for the peace of Jerusalem – and to bring it to the Wall, and to pray that there would in fact be peace in the land,” Huckabee said. 

“I also come with a prayer that all of the hostages will come home now, and that we will bring them home,” he added. 

 “And that is the prayer of the President as well.”

The US envoy, a devout Evangelical Christian and former talk show host, is a long-time pro-Israel advocate who has staunchly supported illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Following his appearance, Huckabee emphasized US-Israeli ties during a press briefing, claiming – as Israel continued to bomb the tents of displaced people in Gaza with US-provided weapons – that these were based on “the Judeo-Christian understanding that every life has worth and value”.

Cisco, a Major Contributor to Israel’s Military Technology, Fired a Pro-Palestine Employee

On March 25, Francine Katsoudas, an executive at an American multinational digital communications technology conglomerate, Cisco, announced new “guardrails” restricting internal discussions and debates on the Middle East—and specifically on Palestine.

“Some topics are just simply too hard, too painful, too divisive, and they take our focus away from our ability to drive Cisco business, and one example specifically would be the ongoing conflict in the Middle East,” Katsoudas said in a company-wide call. “We have made the decision that this topic cannot be discussed, cannot be debated in company or organization-wide meetings,” she added.

Hours after the group call with Katsoudas, an employee who was outspoken on Palestine was fired. The reason given for termination, they described to Drop Site, was that their “comments contribute to a harmful work environment and harms other employees”—but that the company added it was not due to her “personal viewpoint.”

They provided Drop Site with an HR email and notes corroborating their account, but requested anonymity to minimize risk to their future employment and general safety. A week later, Cisco deleted the largest pro-Palestine WebEx chat room, Bridge To Humanity (B2H), and its associated educational website. Cisco did not respond to a request for comment.

“The reason given for my firing is pure hypocrisy. They fired me for resisting the use of my tech labor to harm Palestinians and other marginalized communities,” the terminated employee told Drop Site News. “The level of dehumanization of Palestinians and Arabs in our workplace has become too much to bear,” she added. Cisco did not respond to a detailed request for comment.