An Amazon employee was reportedly fired for having left a note saying "Greetings from Uncle Adolf" -- a reference to late dictator Adolf Hitler-- in a parcel meant for a Jewish customer. The Metropolitan Police in London also registered a case and reached out to the customer, a woman in her 30s, who didn't want to be identified, at her home in London.
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The anti-semitic note was found inside the parcel. The employee, it is believed, had identified the woman as a Jewish seeing her surname.
The woman was seriously rattled on seeing the note inside the parcel, which had a toy meant for her niece. She had to take two days of leave from work to overcome the shock.
However, when the incident was first taken up with Amazon, the response had not been satisfactory. Subsequently, the police were called in and they registered the case as one of hate crime and launched an investigation. No arrests have been made yet.
Liran Meydat, a friend of the victimised woman, accused Amazon of not taking the matter seriously till he took to social media to expose it.
"When she told us about the note, she was shaking. She's a very gentle and humble lady," Meydat told the Daily Mail. "She does a lot for charity -- both Jewish and non-Jewish -- and helps all members of the community; that's why she took it very badly. British Jews feel scared to speak out. I'm an Israeli and have lived here for a few years, so I don't feel scared. When I heard what had happened, it made me think about my grandfather who showed me the number on his arms from the Nazi camp in German-occupied Poland. He lost all his family there."
"'We have a historical debt to the UK. I don't think it's an anti-Semitic country. I know it's only a small minority who think like that," he said.
The police reportedly reached the house of the woman soon after the incident was reported and took the toy, parcel and note for forensic testing.
"'We're very happy about how they've handled it," Meydat said. "'The only exception is Amazon. We contacted them on the same day and didn't hear anything back. I've now given them hell over it and they are now saying they want to wait for the results to come back from the police."
However, Amazon defended itself saying it had taken the matter seriously and tendered the customer an apology. The company's spokesperson said: "We take this incident seriously and have apologised to the customer. We have investigated the matter and dismissed the individual involved."
