McBusted: McDonald's manager admits speaking Arabic led to firing

Jonathan Cook | Electronic Intifada

Abeer Zinaty, the 20-year-old McDonald's employee in Israel who says she was fired by the world's biggest fastfood chain for breaking a ban on speaking Arabic in the workplace, has spoken to the Electronic Intifada of the circumstances surrounding her dismissal. Her account flatly contradicts claims by McDonald's head office in the United States that Zinaty's dismissal had nothing to do with her speaking Arabic. Considerable weight is added to her version of events by documents in the hands of the Electronic Intifada.

Senior McDonald's managers, both in America and Israel, who separately responded to protests over Zinaty's dismissal, offered starkly differing interpretations of the company's policy on the speaking of Arabic in the workplace. And the firm's subsequent claims - in the face of mounting bad publicity - that Zinaty was fired instead for a poor work record are apparently not supported by evidence that McDonald's ever initiated a disciplinary procedure against her or sent her letters of warning. They also fly in the face of the company's decision six months earlier to award her "Excellent Worker 2003".

"There had been some discussion that I was in line for promotion so when I got the call I was sure it was to offer me a more senior job in the company," she said. "I couldn't believe it when he said I was being fired. He told me there were several problems with my work but that the main thing was that I was talking too much Arabic."

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the girl is an israeli citizen
israel claims to be a free and democratic nation
and also claims that its arab citizens have full civil rights
israel furthur claims a moral superiority over its arab neighbors

O8) :party: :toast: :bounce: :nopity: :boring: :beer: :hi: :dem: :kick: :donut:

how difficult could it possibly be?

:shrug:

how difficult could it possibly be?

:shrug:

so you can't admit that racism is wrong, the reasoning is because homicide bombing is a bigger deal to you.

Amazing.

ONE fast food worker being FIRED in an environment DRENCHED with the blood of innocents is NOT, no matter HOW the argument is framed.

racism is always wrong and is a big deal.

:shrug:

:party:

I leave it as an exercise for the reader to assess which is worse, and by how much.

:shrug:

I'm sure it would matter more.

In a free and democratic nation, bad things like this make the news. Over in the West Bank or Gaza, things vastly worse than this happen. They just don't make the news. After all, Jews aren't even allowed to live there, much less work or even speak Hebrew.

Israeli "settlers" -- some might call them land thieves or squatters live in the Palestinian areas.

There should be safeguards to protect minorities from just such an abuse. (regardless of how things are done elsewhere - that is no excuse) Here in the states there is always appeal to the EEOC and civil suits.

Is there any such protection or recorse in Israel? I've asked before, but all I got was silence.

And that is the method for appeal.

What are the laws on this issue?

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If I do not find a 20 year old McDonald's employee speaking to Electronic Intifada particularly compelling. Perhaps her school newspaper thought the story too trivial?

this is sooooo riveting...***yawn****

one wonders if an employee at a Saudi Arabia Mcdonalds
were were to speak hebrew what would happen...

I shudder at the thought.

One can only wonder how this girl will ever find another career as night manager in charge of french fries. Oh, my.

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The Israeli economy was in as dire straits as ours here in the states. If this is so, this young woman may have quite a hard time finding a replacement job. I would suppose as an Israeli citizen she will be elgible for unemployment or the welfare rolls, further draining money that could go to the Israeli war machine...IIRC, Israel is already having problems with funding public programs, is this not so?

So you see, although the plight of one girl may not concern you, she is symptimatic of the economic and discriminatory problems faced by a large number of Israeli citizens.

That Israel should emulate Saudi Arabia in everything they do...

Particularly discrimination?

Well, they both practice torture and carry out executions.

They both don't eat pork chops.

See, the Israelis have more in common with the Saudis than they think.

:cry:

surely as that poor innocent fry cook's job. :nopity:

Deleted posts and such... :)
We do keep the mods busy.

A few of my truths have been deleted too...LOL

Welcome to the DOP Club ;) (Deleted Opinion Post)

Racism is unacceptable and a Big Deal, it's also the reason we have an "environment DRENCHED with the blood of innocents".....

Suicide bombings have absolutely nothing to do with firing this girl for speaking Arabic.

opposed to the casual racism that led to the burger manufacturer's firing.

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stick around, cause you ain't seen nothin' yet...

I didn't become a regular here until recently and sometimes this place sounds like Freerepublic.

you'll get used to it.

The phrase "casual racism" is meant to denote a racist interaction that leaves the victim unharmed physically (and I DON'T mean to slight the psychological damage). It's only "casual" when compared to the genocidal racism of a suicde bombing.

To argue that they're equal in degree is simply to argue that up is down.

When you say "casual racism" you're implying it is acceptable.

Racism is unacceptable.....! Period...... You're turning the clock backwards many many years. That it isn't happening on our soil, doesn't make it anymore acceptable..

Suicide bombing have no place in this discussion, just as much as the Racist wall, the occupation of Palestinians territory, the killing of innocent civilians (as collateral Damage) with F-16's etc... we're discussing a ban on a language by a US company...

Try looking at the issue in terms of what would have happened in the US, for a more representative perspective.


95% of the time, racism is NON-PHYSICAL... the words "Casual Racism" very grossly slights the possible psychological damage that could result from non-physical racism.



Anyhow, after thinking about the ban on Arabic, It's probably justified if it helps deter suicide bombers from entering the work place. That's clearly not the intention here, since the suicide bomber will detonate once in......

there is no justification for firing someone for speaking their language.

......reasoning behind it, then yes it is justified.

like I said, in this case, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Rules change during times of war compared to peaceful times.

In a post above, you state that racism is unacceptable ... Period.

Now, you say that the "rules change during times of war".

This is not a contradiction?

... can you blame me after all the above mind twisting distortions of facts...

There clearly isn't a justification for it, yes, unless it can stop suicide bombers. I must give the benifit of the doubt to Israeli citizens wanting to protect them selves.

I think that's what I wanted to say.

But in this case, it seems to be a purely racist decision with no justification.


During war, I have the right not to take prisoners and kill the enemy on site.

That although I disagree with racism in any case, the suicide bomber's "genocidal racism" is much more randomly directed and distributied to whatever "colateral damage", as some like to say, is in the blast aera. The blast is very democratic in that it effects everyone... much less discriminating than a sniper's bullet or a firing.

Mind you, while there is a scale of differnce in the results, the motive for the act remains the same, Racism.

And racism, regardless of the scale of effect, should never be tolerated.