Israel plans to boycott Europe's biggest tech conference, Web Summit, after the event's co-founder accused Israel of war crimes, as many tech companies pull out
given all the tweets @paddycosgrave has been liking over the last few days. I saved several of them on the attached google doc (so we have a record when the @WebSummit PR team asks him to delete them). https://docs.google.com/... Aviv Ben-Yosef / @avivby : @paddycosgrave You tweet that after liking some more tweets showing your real thoughts + subliking(?) about being pressured. Just announce summit will be for the right type of regimes, like Qatar, and go have fun. #HamasisISIS #TheWestIsNext #FreePalestineFromHamas #FreeHamasfromGaza...
TelegraphJames Titcomb
Context & Ripple Effects
The dispute arrived as Israeli tech companies had already been reassessing their ties to the country amid domestic political turmoil, including moves of money and headquarters overseas. It turns a conference organizer’s public statements into a commercial and diplomatic issue for its ecosystem.
The backlash broadened beyond Israel’s planned absence: major technology companies also withdrew from Web Summit 2023. Later, two Israeli startups declined the event’s venture-arm investments, showing that the fallout reached both the conference and its investment relationships.
First-order effects
Web Summit faces an immediate loss of Israeli participation and withdrawals by named corporate attendees, reducing the event’s ability to present itself as a neutral convening venue.
Israeli founders and companies must weigh participation, sponsorship, and funding ties against the reputational risk created by the controversy.
Second-order effects
Conference partners and major exhibitors face pressure to set clearer standards for executive speech and crisis response, since their own brands can be pulled into a host’s political dispute.
If similar disputes recur, major tech events may be judged less as neutral marketplaces and more as institutions whose leadership, investor ties, and geopolitical positions carry commercial consequences.
This points toward more fragmented cross-border tech networks, where access to conferences, capital, and partnerships can be shaped by political alignment as well as product fit.
The trend: Geopolitical conflict is increasingly turning leaders’ public speech into an operational risk for tech platforms, events, and investment networks.
I'm shocked at the rhetoric and actions of so many Western leaders & governments, with the exception in particular of Ireland's government, who for once are doing the right thing. War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are.
@paddycosgrave Saddened by your ill-informed stance. You could've taken a more nuanced one, condemning these atrocities and calling for restraint. That would've been acceptable. You chose to support terrorists. As such I'll never attend/sponsor/speak at any of your events again.
First, what Hamas did is outrageous and disgusting. It is by every measure an act of monstrous evil. Israel has a right to defend itself, but it does not, as I have already stated, have a right to break international law. Second, here's the host of the most watched chat show in..…
We are devastated to see the terrible killings and the level of innocent civilian casualties in Israel and Gaza. We condemn the attacks by Hamas and extend our deepest sympathies to everyone who has lost loved ones. We hope for peaceful reconciliation.
tldr on WebSummit: the day the Jews/Israeli massacres were taking place, Oct 7, the Founder of WebSummit was criticizing Israel, rather than saying anything about Hamas. For 7 days after the massacre, he continued his effort against Israel, without saying a word about Hamas. He..…
Iv'e been to Web Summit a bunch of time, and if to be honest I regret each one of them. Reading this despicable tweet, a few days after the worst massacre any Western country has ever experienced, makes me sick to my stomach. I encourage every decent Internet entrepreneur,...
Qatar 🇶🇦: 6500 workers killed during the preparations of the world cup (Guardian, Feb 23th, 2021) @paddycosgrave: Yeah! Let's do a Web Summit in 2024 🌈🤑😘 Israel 🇮🇱: 1300 of our own citizen were slaughtered, so we had to wage an attack. @paddycosgrave: Oh, you war criminals!!!
I heard you were a good guy @paddycosgrave, so I wanted to believe your account was hacked by someone wanting to ruin your good name and end @WebSummit. Then I saw Qatar is hosting the conference this year, and it all made sense. Good people can have poor judgment and lack moral.…
I can't find words to respond to this one sided anti-Semitic, anti-humane words. WebSummit is dead to me, like the 1,300 defenseless dead mothers, babies & elderly that have been raped, beheaded and murdered for doing nothing. @paddycosgrave I am ashamed to have ever called you a…
#CancelWebSummit I'm shocked to see the response of Paddy Cosgrave regarding the terrible tragedies taking place in Israel. I and our firm will no longer be attending the Web Summit or any future events. You have lost all support from Israel and should be ashamed of yourself.
@paddycosgrave You might want to think this through Paddy. Protecting your citizens from terrorism, while saving hostages, is the right of any attacked nation. Ireland and the US would do the exact same thing. Israel does everything it can to minimize civilian casualties, while H…
@paddycosgrave I was looking forward to participating in and speaking at WebSummit. In light of these comments that show a complete lack of moral clarity, I have no choice but to cancel my participation. I know I am joining several other people in making this decision. I unequivo…
Hard to take this statement at face value — given all the tweets @paddycosgrave has been liking over the last few days. I saved several of them on the attached google doc (so we have a record when the @WebSummit PR team asks him to delete them). https://docs.google.com/...
@paddycosgrave You tweet that after liking some more tweets showing your real thoughts + subliking(?) about being pressured. Just announce summit will be for the right type of regimes, like Qatar, and go have fun. #HamasisISIS #TheWestIsNext #FreePalestineFromHamas #FreeHamasfrom…