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Israeli woman fired for 'praising' terrorist on Facebook

Cellular provider fires employee for posting photo of Jerusalem stabber with captions 'my love,' 'martyr.' She claims she was unlawfully dismissed.

An employee working for Pelephone, an Israeli cellular provider was fired for posting a picture of the terrorist Fadi Aloun, with the captions "martyr" and "my love."

 

 

Aloun, 19, a resident of Issawiya in East Jerusalem, stabbed a 15-year-old Jewish boy in Jerusalem on Sunday night, moderately injuring him. Aloun himself was later shot and killed by police officers who noticed him carrying a knife.

 

The employee, Tamara Sweity, changed her profile picture to a portrait of Aloun, and added the caption "shaheed," or martyr. She also posted a status update in which she wrote, "My love, you are far from my eyes."

 

The company’s deputy director for human resources, Tzvika Abromovich, wrote a letter to the company's employees, stating that Sweity was fired after she rejected repeated requests to remove the offensive pictures.

 

"We employ thousands of people and serve millions of clients from every background," he wrote. "Pelephone is not a political organization, and does not express it's opinion on political or diplomatic matters. The same is expected of our employees who identify as company workers on their personal Facebook profiles. Sadly, we recently encountered a case in which an employee expressed support for terrorism on her personal Facebook page, in a manner that was offensive and in breach of company policy and norms."

 

"The employee rejected repeated requests to remove the offensive picture and content, and as such we were forced to notify her of the termination of her employment," he went on to write. "We cannot allow political conflicts to enter the workplace. Even during these times, we must act with restraint and in a way that respects fellow employees and clients."

 

A screengrab of her page
A screengrab of her page

 

In a conversation with ynet, Sweity claimed that she knew Aloun personally, and that the status she posted was not meant to support or identify with his actions, but rather express sorrow over his death.

 

"I didn't write a post of support, and I didn’t publish it in solidarity with his actions, but rather due to my close friendship with him," she said. "I don’t know what really happened; he never spoke about these kinds of actions."

 

She additionally claimed that her employment was illegally terminated. "They did not hold a hearing or a talk with me," she said. "They have yet to speak with me or tell me that I am fired, they just removed me from the work whatsapp group, without any explanation."

 

"I asked my friend, and she said that an email was sent out to all the employees, in which management had said that I published a post which supported terrorism. They made me into a terrorist. There is no law against publishing pictures. It’s simply an injustice to fire someone like that," Sweity added.

 

"The base for firing her is questionable"

 

Chemi Lapidor, an expert in labor law from the law firm Lapidor and Associates, explained that there is a legal problem with firing a worker on the basis of her remarks. "Even though her remarks are infuriating and wretched, they serve a questionable basis for terminating her employment," he explained.

 

"An employee, like any other person, is entitled to freedom of expression, without censorship from his/her employer. As such, it’s reasonable to assume that if the case reaches the courts, they are likely to rule in her favor. With that said, in a case where the employee's remarks cause real damage to the company's image or business, and the damage can be proven, then the courts will likely rule that the termination was legal.

 

As of now, it is unclear whether her remarks caused actual damage to the company."

 


פרסום ראשון: 10.07.15, 11:14
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