Why does the Israeli tech sector (and not only) break ties with the Web Summit?
Paddy Cosgrave, CEO of the technology conference Web Summit, has come under fire for his relations with Qatar and his statements on the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Here's what he said and who will be missing the event…
Will the Web Summit scheduled for November 13th to 16th in Lisbon be deserted? Surely Israel will not attend and many others promise to do the same after some public comments on the conflict between Israel and Hamas by Paddy Cosgrave, CEO of the 70,000-capacity annual technology conference.
Furthermore, he is accused of having too much sympathy for Qatar, a country which in recent years has financed the Gaza Strip – and, therefore, more or less indirectly also Hamas which has managed it since 2007. In fact, another Web Summit will be held in Doha from 26 to February 29, 2024 and Cosgrave also brought up US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the United States to justify good relations with the Middle Eastern state, who equally praised Qatar for its role in the crisis.
THE CASE ON
Last October 7, Cosgrave was in Doha and, following the horror committed by Hamas against Israeli civilians, he tweeted (and then deleted, as reported by Quartz ) a graph comparing Palestinian and Israeli deaths from 2008 to 2023, without any reference to what just happened.
Nearly a week later, Cosgrave said he was shocked by the rhetoric of world leaders refusing to denounce Israel's war crimes.
Last Monday, "probably giving in to public pressure," writes Quartz , he called Hamas' actions "outrageous and disgusting." However, within hours, he added that he "will not stop" denouncing Israel's "war crimes".
ISRAEL'S REACTION (AND NOT ONLY)
Meanwhile, in Israel – whose technology industry contributes to a fifth of the country's economic production – there were several who noticed the tweets and took a stand. Yaron Samid, founder and director of TechAviv, compared the omission of Hamas brutality "to forgetting to mention 9/11 when condemning the United States for killing civilians in retaliation against Al Qaeda." Ori Goshen, co-founder and co-CEO of Tel Aviv-based AI21 Labs, said he would not give his keynote speech at the event because he "cannot be part of such indecency and moral bankruptcy."
And Dor Shapira, Israel's ambassador to Portugal, wrote to the mayor of Lisbon informing him that his country will not participate in the Web Summit "due to the outrageous statements made by the conference's CEO Paddy Cosgrave." “Even in these difficult times, he is unable to put aside his extreme political ideas and denounce Hamas' terrorist activities against innocent people – he wrote on LinkedIn -. Dozens of companies have already canceled their participation in this conference and we encourage more to do so."
Shapira's appeal was not in vain and other leading figures, such as Ravi Gupta (partner of the venture capital firm Sequoia) and Deel as sponsors also withdrew in a sign of solidarity. Some, including David Marcus (former Meta executive), have even sworn off Web Summit forever.
COSGRAVE'S APOLOGIES
“I realize that what I said, the time I said it and the way it was presented caused deep pain to many. To anyone who was hurt by my words, I deeply apologize,” Cosgrave wrote . “What we need right now is compassion, and I haven't conveyed that. Web Summit has a long history of partnerships with Israel and its technology companies, and I am deeply sorry that these friends were hurt by what I said.”
But now there doesn't seem to be much chance of redemption for the CEO. In fact, over the last week, according to Quartz , LinkedIn and X have been inundated with posts about founders and investors withdrawing from the Web Summit.
THE SHADOW OF QATAR
Cosgrave's position is also aggravated by his relations with Qatar, a country which – as Start also wrote quoting the professor and political scientist Andrea Molle – has become Hamas's greatest benefactor in recent years. In fact, it is believed that from the 400 million dollars donated in 2012 it has now reached almost 1 billion.
Officially "for aid and reconstruction work in the Gaza Strip" but which in reality, says Molle, certainly went in part to "finance terrorism". Reuters also says Doha has heavily supported the terrorist group through hundreds of millions of dollars. And in 2009, Quartz recalls, a hearing in the US House claimed that "Qatar [where, among other things, the former leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, ed .] has openly financed Hamas for many years."
Another Web Summit will be held in the capital of the Middle Eastern state at the beginning of 2024, bringing a lot of money to the country. A fact that became particularly relevant after the tweets by Cosgrave, who according to the founder of First Round Capital, Josh Kopelman, "could be the spokesperson for a certain Middle Eastern government", reports Quartz .
To respond to the accusations, Cosgrave wanted to underline Blinken's public thanks to Qatar "for its support in this crisis and in broader issues affecting the region", recalling the words of the US Secretary of State, who in recent days has said: “Qatar has been a very close partner to the United States on a wide range of issues critical to both our countries and the region… The United States and Qatar share the goal of preventing this conflict from spreading” .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/perche-il-settore-tech-israeliano-e-non-solo-rompe-i-ponti-con-il-web-summit/ on Fri, 20 Oct 2023 05:44:27 +0000.