On Tuesday 28 February I was among those complaining that the US electronic commerce and cloud computing giant, Amazon was profiting “‘from the trade in titles promoting Holocaust denial and antisemitic conspiracy myths.”
The trouble was, I pointed out, that the company wields the biggest clout possible in the international booktrade - probably more pro rata even than Facebook on social media. What's more, because so many founding and other senior Facebook personnel are Jewish, when questioned about online hate, the company falls back on the tame excuse of needing to be even-handed.
However, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos may offer no such reason; needs no such excuse. Too many people (including me) need Amazon much more than it needs individual customers. So for the present, until internet anti-hate laws are tightened, Bezos and his ilk may tell me to take a hike”.
But I now believe I may written too hastily and that Bezos has been forced to make a 180 degree turn.
Today I received an email message from the Israel Gives charity site advising me:
“ …today, March 16, Amazon will donate 5% (10 times the usual donation rate) of the price of your Amazon purchases to Israel!”
Israel Gives adds: “Make a purchase anytime today up to 11:59 p.m. as a donation from Amazon. We'll then allocate this donation to any non-profit organisation in Israel that you choose (just let us know by email after you've made your purchase).
“All the best,
Yonatan Ben-Dor, IsraelGives and America Gives, Inc.”
This has to be GENUINELY GOOD news!
© Natalie Wood (16 March 2017)
No comments:
Post a Comment