ISRAEL AT WAR
Web Summit CEO resigns following backlash over Israel war crimes accusations
Paddy Cosgrave had stated among other things that “War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are.” Despite ultimately apologizing, Alphabet, Meta, and Intel, as well as a long list of additional companies, all pulled out from the conference in protest of the CEO’s remarks
Paddy Cosgrave, the CEO of Web Summit, announced on Saturday that he is stepping down after the uproar created by his remarks about Israel violating international law and committing war crimes in its war against Hamas. Cosgrave posted a public apology on Tuesday after Israeli tech leaders said they would boycott his conference following a series of tweets in which he criticized Israel, stating among other things that “War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are.”
However, the apology proved to be far from sufficient, with Alphabet and Meta saying on Friday that they were pulling out of the conference, joining the likes of Intel, Siemens and Stripe, as well as many other companies.
“Unfortunately, my personal comments have become a distraction from the event, and our team, our sponsors, our startups and the people who attend,” Cosgrave said in a statement. “I sincerely apologize again for any hurt I have caused.”
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Web Summit is still planned to go ahead in Lisbon between November 13th and 16th.
