1y ago

Web Summit CEO Paddy Cosgrave steps down in wake of controversy over his Israel comments

www.businessinsider.com

Web Summit CEO Paddy Cosgrave steps down in wake of controversy over his Israel comments::Paddy Cosgrave said his "personal comments have become a distraction from the event, and our team, our sponsors, our startups and the people who attend."

27 comments

For context what he said was:
war crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are
Apparently condemning war crimes is enough to lose your job these days.
- How dare he point out that Israel is carrying out war crimes.
  
  I, for one, do not want to live in the kind of dystopian wasteland where we allow our allies to be called out for their war crimes...
- Even though he's right, this is why you should have an anonymous account. Just focus on your business with your real account and stay out of trouble.
- yeah but right now a lot of people yelling war crimes and want Israel condemned for them before they even declared as warcrimes...
  just look at the hospital incident and how quick everybody was with hate, insults and condemnation after the Hamas reported about it.
  not every collateral damage is a war crime, although it's always a tragedy. But please also don't forget that storing military equipment near hospitals or using civilian facilities as place of operation for military activities could (!) also be a war crime itself.
  
  Collective punishment is a war crime.
  Amnesty International says Israel is committing collective punishment in Gaza.
  Israel is committing collective punishment in West Bank, too.
  
  Everything you said is valid... but to me, it doesn't really apply to this specific context. As far as I could see (admittedly I did only skim the article) but the general statement he made did not mention any specifics. I think it's unfair to take a broad statement such as condemning war crimes, and to rebut it by saying well a lot of other people are calling this one specific instance a war crime when it hasn't yet been proven.
  
  declared as war crimes
  By whom exactly?
  Tell me you know nothing about the law of international armed conflict without telling me you know nothing about the law of international armed conflict.
  could (!) also be a war crime
  This is also not how war crimes work. “They started it” is for the playground.

When people say 'cancel culture', they are generally talking out of their ass, but this is what I say is the cancel culture, that someone saying 'war crimes are war crimes, even when allies did them' is somehow so abhorrent that they are sacked. Think about it, war crimes are acceptable but pointing them out is not.
- Let’s see if people like Cosgrove reevaluate their position on cancel culture now that it is affecting them. I’m not holding my breath.
- No they aren’t talking out of their ass and yes this is an example of
  
  Yes they are generally talking out of their ass and this is an example where they’re not.
  
  No, being "cancelled" for saying something racist isn't the same as this.

This is honestly the kind of shit that starts conspiracy theories as it makes you wonder why these companies care so much about a mostly harmless comment. Is it just a general pressure among the elite to always side with Israel? Is their actually a secret Jewish cabal controlling the world? ( there isn't) or is it something else, like for example the CEO of Intel Pat Geslinger being a hyper religious Christian who has spent a lot of money and time creating the group "Transforming the Bay with Christ" which has a bunch of other business leaders, wealthy individuals and no profit leaders who's goal is to convert a million people over to their version of Christianity. And who are most likely Christian zionist who thing the Jews returning to Israel is prerequisite of the second coming of Christ.

Stepped down ? For real ?

This is the best summary I could come up with:
His decision comes after a slew of major companies and tech leaders pulled out of the conference following his comments on Israel's response to the Hamas terrorist attacks.
"Unfortunately, my personal comments have become a distraction from the event, and our team, our sponsors, our startups and the people who attend.
He subsequently issued an apology for the "timing" of his comments, on October 17, saying he understood they had caused "profound hurt" and that he "unequivocally" supported "Israel's right to exist and to defend itself."
However, Cosgrave also alluded to his prior remarks, saying "Israel should adhere to international law and the Geneva Conventions – ie, not commit war crimes."
Cosgrave's comments sparked an uproar among tech leaders, many of whom canceled their appearances at next month's conference.
Major companies including Intel and Siemens — two of the major sponsors — also announced they were pulling out this week.The conference — one of Europe's biggest tech events — is to take place November 13 to 16 in Lisbon, with 70,000 delegates, a Web Summit spokesperson previously told Insider.
The original article contains 267 words, the summary contains 179 words. Saved 33%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Very disappointed in Stripe, to back away in line with everyone else. They didn't have to take a stand but they didn't have to take the soup either, they should know better given the history of Ireland.

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