Working with an Israeli in the UK
Update: Decided my initial instincts are right and I won't work with them. If someone asks I'll point to the social media posts I found (see my edit below) and highlight BDS. As much as it cuts off work for me, at least I won't be compromising myself.
Original Post: An Israeli lives in Israel but does remote working in the UK. For all intents and purposes whenever we speak and have had to work together we have the same values, etc. (i.e. left wing politics) and where they live has never been relevant to work.
There may be an opportunity to do business with them in the UK as we work in the same field. However, I feel uncomfortable about it (i.e. living in Israel is a political act, etc.).
Has anyone else had to navigate this before? Did you just never entertain working with an Israeli or speak to them about their views before you make a decision, etc.
My worries are:
- Starting a conversation about whether we work together based on their stance on Israel can be twisted into being racist/antisemitic.
- It could end up getting myself blacklisted from the very people I need to work with if the above occurs.
- Avoiding them risks stifling my career.
My initial approach was to avoid any opportunity to work with them, but that feels unfair (i.e. make a judgement about them before I have spoken to them about it) - but it also means I will don't risk losing other work if it turns out they are pro-Israeli.
There is also the chance that other people will boycott them if it turns out they are pro-Israel...
As you can tell - I am not a confrontational person if I can avoid it and I also like to assume the best in people.
Edit: Thanks to a suggestion here I did a quick search of their social media and the only thing I could find is responses to Oct 7 and two troubling points:
- Claim that the western media is bias and silent on the number of rockets being fired into Israel by Hamas
- A post asking how can Hamas have fuel for rockets and not for incubators (this has made me think my instincts are right)
Although they also have reposts focusing on peace between religions, etc. and nothing else political that I can see.