Kenneth Ballenegger: SF venture capitalist fired from company he co-founded over tweets about sterilization in Gaza

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: A venture capitalist was fired effective immediately from the company he co-founded after sharing a post on social media claiming that Israel was “allowed” to “manage Gaza” by creating “educational camps”. [and] sterilizations,” reports the New York Post.

Kenneth Ballenegger, founding partner of San Francisco venture capital firm Oyster Ventures, wrote on X over the weekend: “After the war, Israel should manage Gaza like China manages Xinjiang. A state of total surveillance. Reeducation camps. Sterilizations. »

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“It is justified and it is the only way to pacify the jihad population,” he added, according to screenshots of the message shared by the pro-Israeli organization Stop Zionist Hate on Monday, November 13. , after Ballenegger’s X account was made private.

Words don’t mean anything. By not removing @kob from your team, you are condoning his rhetoric. https://t.co/adrnuDpYzM pic.twitter.com/3cvty0okIR

– Stop Zionist Hate (@StopZionistHate) November 13, 2023

Kenneth Ballenegger posted another offensive message moments later

Ballenegger issued another offensive message moments later that read: “They are breeding like rabbits and breeding them to be terrorists, creating more poverty, misery and terrorism.” Why should we allow this. The world would be a much better place if they didn’t. reproduce.”

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What did Kenneth Ballenegger’s co-founding partner say after the incident?

Sophia Liao, Ballenegger’s co-founding partner at Oyster, subtly distanced herself from her colleague, sharing a statement on I want to be unequivocally clear: his statement was appalling,” Liao wrote.

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pic.twitter.com/631bthiRVb

— Oyster Ventures (@OysterVentures) November 14, 2023

She also noted that Oyster’s entire management team had decided to “remove Kenneth Ballenegger as a partner at the firm.”

“This process will take time, but please be assured that Kenneth has been suspended immediately and these proceedings are ongoing,” Liao added in comments previously reported by Business Insider.

Liao continued: “On a personal note, as someone who survived and grew up under China’s one-child policy, it is horrible to see such a cruel comparison made between such complex policy environments. This perspective makes Kenneth’s choice of words even more painful for me. I contacted him directly to explain this and his immediate removal from the firm.

Oyster Ventures reportedly invested in unicorn tech companies

Oyster Ventures has apparently invested in unicorn tech companies, including e-commerce startup Bolt, online learning platform Masterclass and gaming software company Conductive.AI, according to Dealroom. It also appears that Oyster’s website has been down since Tuesday, November 14, as the company’s URL displays an error message.

Several companies fired employees following hate speech linked to the Israel-Gaza war

Several companies in the banking and technology sectors have fired their employees due to offensive comments related to the war between Israel and Gaza.

Last month, Citibank fired banker Nozima Husainova after she wrote: “No wonder Hitler wanted to get rid of them all” alongside a smiley face emoji on her Instagram Story.

Husainova shared the remarks with her 4,500 followers in response to an article about the Gaza hospital bombing that was initially blamed on Israel but was later revealed to have been caused by the group Islamic militant after its members missed firing a rocket. The bank called Husainova’s remarks “revolting” and “anti-Semitic.”

An Apple employee was also ousted for taking to Instagram to condemn “Zionists” as “murderers and thieves.” Natasha Dach was removed from Apple’s employee directory earlier this month after writing about Zionists: “You sneak into countries, steal people’s lives, their jobs, their homes, their streets, push them, intimidate them, torture them. »

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