Woman fired from Israeli tech firm's Dublin office after posting Palestine comments

Palestinians look for survivors of an Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip in Nusseirat refugee camp on Tuesday. Photo: AP/Hatem Moussa

Tánaiste Micheál Martin says that it is “unacceptable” that a Dublin women was fired from her job with Israeli tech firm Wix after she posted comments in support of Palestine.

Courtney Carey was fired from the website building site on Monday after four-and-a-half years following a backlash to comments she posted which included "Israel is a terrorist state" and that she "condemned all forms of terrorism". Company president Nir Zohar said Wix had “decided to part ways” with Ms Carey.

Mr Martin told reporters that he did not know of the case, but said that employees should be permitted to have their own views.

“That’s unacceptable. I think employees generally should be allowed their individual viewpoints,” Mr Martin said.

“We live in a democracy here we tolerate debate with freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, and people have different opinions on these issues.

“People are entitled to have perspectives, once they don’t advocate for violence in the pursuit of those objectives.”

During Taoiseach's Questions in the Dáil, People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said Wix had told employees that it "would be in their interests" to post pro-Israeli messages to social media and to "only show those posts to people who look European".

Cork TD Mick Barry also raised the issue in the Dáil, saying it would "have a chilling effect" and amounted to censorship. Both Mr Barry and Mr Boyd Barrett asked Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to condemn Ms Carey's firing.

Mr Varadkar said he was not aware of the case and would wait to "know the facts" before commenting. He said, however, that under Irish employment law, a worker cannot be fired for their beliefs.

Speaking at Leinster House before the debate, Mr Barry said: “This is an extremely dangerous precedent. A woman has been fired from her job for speaking out against a brutal war. 

A worker being fired from their employment for expressing a political opinion can have a chilling effect on many thousands of workers in this country.

Mr Zohar said Ms Carey had been asked to be "sensitive" about the tone of her posts previously. He said Wix would "never try to limit anyone's political views".

"Our team members in Israel have been through so much since the horrible October 7 Hamas attack; they are in mourning, some lost their homes, others have lost friends and family members, many have been to multiple funerals in the span of the last two weeks (sometimes more than one funeral in a single day) and some even know that as the body recognition process progresses they will have to go to more very soon. 

"Others have been personally locked for hours while shots were fired outside their shelters and friends were murdered, there is so much pain and personal trauma. In the midst of this, for all the Israelis to be called terrorists by someone they perceive as a teammate and a colleague is unfathomable, unexplainable and unacceptable.

"The employee posted something inflammatory of a similar kind last week. She was asked by her manager to be sensitive to her peers after being told how much pain this is causing her foreign colleagues and removed that post, yet only a few days later chose to post the above-mentioned post that essentially points a blaming finger at the victims of horrific terrorism.

"Wix is a global company, it is an open and a liberal company. We would never try to limit anyone’s political views, we do however also hold a strong set of internal values about our team spirit, partnership and friendship. These accusations in such troubling times not only harm our Israeli team's spirit, they also threaten the great connection between our Dublin offices with our 500 team members and their Israeli colleagues. We therefore decided to part ways with this employee."