Google and Meta (Facebook, Instagram) confirmed on Friday that they would not participate in November’s Web Summit in Lisbon, one of the main global tech events, because of the co-founder’s positions on the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Several companies and prominent guests decided to boycott the conference after messages from Paddy Cosgrave, the organizer, who claimed on X (formerly Twitter) to be “shocked by the rhetoric and actions of many Western leaders and governments” in support to Israel.
“War crimes are war crimes, even when committed by allies, and should be denounced for what they are,” wrote this Irish entrepreneur who co-founded this gathering in 2009 in October 13. Dublin.
He has since issued an apology, but it does not appear to have soothed his relations with many partners.
The social media giant Meta told AFP that it would not go to the Web Summit, without elaborating on the reasons.
“We will ultimately not be present at the Web Summit,” Google for its part declared to the Irish newspaper Irish Independentwhich reminds us that the Internet giant is one of the commercial partners of the annual event.
After Paddy Cosgrave’s initial messages, a wave of boycotts targeting the next Web Summit, which plans to welcome some 2,300 start-ups and more than 70,000 participants from November 13 to 16, had emerged among big names in tech. .
“I refuse to participate in the Web Summit and I am canceling my participation”, for example announced on X Garry Tan, boss of the Californian incubator Y Combinator, one of its headliners.
Apologies
He was notably imitated on a publication on LinkedIn.
The Israeli ambassador to Portugal, Dor Shapira, indicated on the same social network that “dozens of companies have already canceled their visit” and warned that Israel would not participate in the show.
On Tuesday, Paddy Cosgrave finally issued an “apology” statement: “I understand that my words, the timing of them and the manner in which they were presented have deeply hurt many people,” he said. declared.
“What we need right now is compassion, and that’s not what I did,” he admitted, reiterating his condemnation of the “monstrous” Hamas attack .
A little earlier Tuesday, he assured on X that he had received numerous messages of support from Israel and elsewhere in the world.
On October 7, Israel was the victim of an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. More than 1,400 people have been killed in Israel since this attack. Most are civilians who died on the day of the attack, the deadliest since the creation of the State of Israel.
Israeli retaliatory strikes killed more than 4,100 people, mostly Palestinian civilians, including hundreds of children, according to local authorities.
The besieged and bombed Gazans are desperately awaiting the entry of the first international aid convoys, a matter of “life and death” for them, according to the United Nations.