Burger King worker fired for supporting Palestine

As the war in West Asia drags on in Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen and Syria — all being bombed, invaded and sanctioned by Israel and/or the United States — it is important to look at the reaction of working people in the U.S. and the world. Social media might be the best place to find working people’s gut reactions.

Arianna Hamilton, a young Black woman working at Burger King, was recently fired for saying “Free Palestine!” to a pro-Zionist Israeli customer. She said it twice, the second time for his camera as he filmed her to show her boss. 

After Hamilton was fired, she had trouble finding another job and set up a GoFundMe account. As of Aug. 9, her appeal raised $183,525, and Hamilton says she will donate what she doesn’t need to families in Palestine.

Here is some of what Hamilton described in a video, posted by Keep it 100 Dre on

Youtube, which has been viewed 1,900 times in two days. She had been asking the customer where he was from in the area (Pennsylvania), but he said nothing until he pulled out a Star of David and proclaimed he was from Israel, at which point she said, “Free Palestine.” 

Hamilton did not express hatred or threaten the customer, but only expressed her views, which are quoted here from the video: “Free Palestine! Free Gaza! Stop the genocide! … What’s going on in Palestine is more than we can imagine! … We haven’t been experiencing it so we think it’s nothing, but it’s absolutely something. Kids are dying! Kids haven’t been in school! Kids are supporting kids! They’re not getting food! They’re not getting water! Their parents are dying in front of them! There’s more amputees in Gaza alone. This is not okay.” 

In another short video on YouTube by LBthaRealist, which received 1,100 views in one day, LB said: “We all accept that what happened in Nazi Germany was wrong! And it was evil! … So why don’t we have that same energy in 2026?” 

Almost immediately after the firing became public, at least seven videos supporting Hamilton’s cry of “Free Palestine!” were posted from different sources on YouTube. As of Aug. 9, most of them have received more than 1,000 views. 

Arafat Zayed posted a video of himself in Burger King saying, “On behalf of Arianna Hamilton, I’d like to place me an order for a free Palestine!” He added, “The irony of it is … a white man walks into the workplace of a young Black woman, who experiences more racism before breakfast than he does in his entire life. He introduces a political identity, linked to a state accused of racism, apartheid and genocide, plays the victim, and she ends up losing her job for it.” 

These reactions, from thousands of poor and working people, show a growing outrage that is spreading, not only in the U.S., but all over the world.