Apple employees sign letter asking Tim Cook to support Palestinians

Nearly 1,000 Apple employees signed an internal letter to CEO Tim Cook urging the company to issue a public statement supporting the Palestinian people, The Verge reported on Thursday.

"We are frustrated and disappointed because once more, many of those in positions of power and influence - who boldly stand for human rights in so many other just causes - either choose to remain silent or release ineffectually neutral 'both sides' statements with regards to the Palestinian situation," wrote the letter's authors, who are members of the Apple Muslim Association, according to The Verge.

Apple taking a "both sides" approach, they wrote, "would feel to us as the equivalent of 'all lives matter' - a minimization of the disproportionately larger pain and suffering of the Palestinian people."

Apple did not comment on this matter. The letter follows a series of violence in Gaza, where the Israeli military killed 232 Palestinians, including 65 children and 39 women. In addition, the militant group Hamas has killed a dozen Israelis. On Thursday, Israel and Hamas announced a ceasefire.

International human rights organizations have also condemned Israel's attacks as possible war crimes and criticized its Palestinian treatments as a form of apartheid. Recently, Israel's effort to expel Palestinians from East Jerusalem and an Israeli police raid on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam's holiest sites, have increased tensions.

The letter to Tim Cook is the second high-profile case in which many Apple employees criticized the company for ethical concerns in the last week alone - rare at Apple. Last week, The Verge reported that more than 2,000 employees signed a letter criticizing Apple for hiring Antonio García Martínez, citing earlier "misogynistic" and racist comments. Hours later, Apple said that García Martínez had left the company (García Martínez claimed that Apple fired him).