Google removes its head of diversity after 2007 blog post surfaces in which he claimed Jews have 'an insatiable appetite for war'

• Kamau Bobb, head of Google's diversity strategy and research team, was removed from his post after an antisemitic blog post he had written was uncovered.
• Bobb wrote that Israel had "an insatiable appetite for vengeful violence" in a 2007 post.
• Google apologized for his comments and said he was being reassigned to a role on the company's STEM team.

Google announced it's removing its global lead on diversity strategy and research from his post after it was discovered he'd made antisemitic comments in a past blog post.

Kamau Bobb will be reassigned to a STEM research role after The Washington Free Beacon uncovered a 2007 blog post by Bobb titled "If I were a Jew."

"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 now-deleted post.

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"If I were a Jew today, my sensibilities would be tormented. I would find it increasingly difficult to reconcile the long cycles of oppression that Jewish people have endured and the insatiable appetite for vengeful violence that Israel, my homeland, has now acquired."

The post appeared to be written following an outbreak of violence between Lebanon and Israel in late 2007.

"I don't know how I would reconcile that identity with the behavior of fundamentalist Jewish extremists or of Israel as a nation. The details would confuse me. I wouldn't understand those who suggest that bombing Lebanon, slaughtering Lebanese people, and largely destroying Beirut in retaliation for the capture of a few soldiers is justified," Bobb wrote.

After the Beacon published its story on Bobb, which included long excerpts from his blog post, several leading Jewish groups, including the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Stop Antisemitism, tweeted that Bobb should be fired.

-StopAntisemitism.org (@StopAntisemites) June 2, 2021

Instead of firing him, though, Google is moving Bobb into a STEM-focused role.

In a statement released Wednesday evening, Google said it "condemned 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," the statement continued. "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."

Insider has reached out to Kamau Bobb and Google for comment.

Bobb had been in the diversity chief role for nearly three years, according to his LinkedIn profile.