Salma* was taken aback when her manager sent a message to the staff WhatsApp group instructing employees to acknowledge a ban on speaking Arabic in their shop.
The 19-year-old Palestinian citizen of Israel and her colleagues thought it was absurd and ignored it.
"But the next day we were frightened of her and tried to stay silent," she told Middle East Eye.
One colleague briefly spoke in Arabic while saying she was taking a box to the storeroom, even using the Hebrew word for "storeroom", making it clear she was talking about work.
"She started shouting, kicking boxes and telling us we were forbidden to speak Arabic," Salma recalled.
"She told us: 'This is a Jewish state. Here we speak only Hebrew. Arabic stays at home.'"
Salma's experience is one of several reported in recent months by Palestinian workers who say they have been told not to speak Arabic at work.
One of the most recent cases involved a Palestinian employee at a Good Pharm branch in Jaffa. Local media published WhatsApp messages in which a manager allegedly threatened workers who spoke languages other than Hebrew, claiming that hearing Arabic could deter customers traumatised by the 7 October attacks.
Good Pharm said it employs and serves people from all sections of society, is committed to equality, and would address the manager's conduct internally. Palestinian workers, however, say little has changed.
In Salma's case, everyone on the shop floor was Palestinian. The manager was the only Jewish Israeli present.
She said the ban remained in force even when the shop was closed and there were no customers.
'I had heard about racism before this, but I never understood the feeling until now'
Several employees protested. They were then left without shifts for around two months before being offered transfers to branches that were difficult to reach.
"Instead of removing the manager or holding her accountable, the company preferred to ask us to change our workplace," she said.
Although the retailer says it condemns racism and discrimination, Salma says the experience has stayed with her.
Now preparing to start university, she says she is more anxious about entering another predominantly Jewish environment.
"I had heard about racism before this, but I never understood the feeling until now," she said.
"It was the first time I understood what it means for someone to treat you badly simply because of your identity."
Palestinian citizens of Israel are the native population of historic Palestine who stayed behind after Zionist militias displaced roughly 750,000 Palestinians during the 1948 Nakba to create the state of Israel.
Today, the community numbers approximately two million people, making up about 20 percent of Israel's population.
