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Mr Cosgrave, a former start-up founder, co-founded the Web Summit conference series in 2009. As well as hosting Europe’s biggest tech conference in Lisbon each November, it also organises annual events in Brazil, Canada and Hong Kong. The group took in €31.8m (£27.5m) in revenue in 2021.
His comments were met by a wave of protest from tech bosses, including speakers who said they would pull out of the Lisbon event in November.
David Marcus, the former chief executive of PayPal and former head of Meta’s Messenger app, who has previously spoken at Web Summit events, wrote: “You chose to support terrorists. As such I’ll never attend/sponsor/speak at any of your events again.”
Adam Singolda, the head of advertising company Taboola, wrote: “I’ll never be part of your future initiatives and we’ll never work together again.”
Ori Goshen, the chief executive of AI company AI21Labs, who formerly served as a cybersecurity expert in the Israeli Defense Force’s elite intelligence unit 8200, said he had pulled out of a keynote speech at the conference.
Criticising Mr Cosgrave’s comments as “abhorrent”, Mr Goshen wrote: “We at AI21 cannot be part of such indecency and moral bankruptcy.”
Assaf Rappaport, the chief executive of cybersecurity company Wiz, has also cancelled plans to speak at the event, according to his co-founder Yinon Costica.
Tech bosses including Meta’s Sir Nick Clegg, Dario Amodei of AI lab Anthropic, and Steven Bartlett, the British entrepreneur who appears on the BBC show Dragons’ Den, are all scheduled to speak at Web Summit in Lisbon next month.
On Monday afternoon, Mr Cosgrave added: “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.”
A Web Summit spokesman said: “We understand that it is an incredibly sensitive and painful time during this utter tragedy of war.
“We want to reiterate our devastation for the loss of innocent life in Israel and Gaza. We strongly condemn the horrific attacks by Hamas on Israelis.
“Web Summit’s mission is to connect people and ideas changing the world from all around the globe. The more voices we have from around the world, the more we can help change the world for the better.
“We are saddened to hear that some Israelis in the tech community will no longer be attending Web Summit. We regret any hurt caused and extend our deepest sympathies to everyone who has lost loved ones. We hope for peaceful reconciliation. “
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