The importance of the Israeli tech community likely played a key role in Paddy Cosgrave's resignation.
That’s according to Irish Independent Tech Editor Adrian Weckler after the Web Summit CEO’s critique of Israel and western Governments prompted fierce backlash.
While Paddy Cosgrave is known for controversial comments in Ireland, Mr Weckler said you need to put his post condemning Israel “in context”.
“Our perception of Paddy Cosgrave saying controversial things is in an Irish context where he’s taking position against the Irish Government or media or authority figures,” he told The Anton Savage Show.
“The multinationals don’t care about that – it's not relevant to them in any way.
“Now he inserts himself into what’s going on in Israel and Gaza, and that does concern them.
“You have to understand how core and critical part of the overall tech ecosystem the Israeli tech community and venture community are.”
Mr Weckler said a lot of US and western multinational companies are also sympathetic to Israel after it declared war on Hamas.
“That's not to get into the rights and wrongs of the situation – that's just how it is,” he said.
Israel’s tech community accounts for nearly 20% of the country’s annual GDP and several high-profile tech firms founded in Israel are now headquartered in western countries such as Gett, Plus500 and Rapyd.
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.
— Paddy Cosgrave (@paddycosgrave) October 13, 2023
Companies like Google, Meta and Amazon faced pressure to pull out of Web Summit following Mr Cosgrave’s comments, according to Mr Weckler.
“They were coming under pressure from some very influential and very passionate figures who sympathise with the Israeli position,” he said.
“They were starting to be lobbied and starting to be associated with being anti-Israel and they decided [Web Summit] just wasn’t worth their while.”
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.
— Paddy Cosgrave (@paddycosgrave) October 16, 2023
It was the giant multinational companies that forced Ms Cosgrave to resign as CEO.
"We were getting into the territory of existential threat,” Mr Weckler said.
“Some of these companies were not just turning up with speakers, they were also partners of the Web Summit.
“Web Summit’s name and brand in the US as a whole was becoming synonymous with something that big blue-chip companies could not be associated with, all because of Paddy Cosgrave’s views.”
Future of Web Summit
Mr Weckler said the Lisbon Web Summit taking place from November 13th to November 16th is likely to go ahead.
“Companies like Alibaba haven’t pulled out,” he said.
“There will be companies there and speakers there, but there is still momentum in the pullout, particularly on the US side.”
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