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‘I SINCERELY APOLOGIZE’

Web Summit Founder Resigns Amid Furor Over Israel Comment

Google, Intel, Meta, Siemens, and Stripe pulled out of the tech conference after Paddy Cosgrave called Israel’s response to the Hamas attacks a war crime.

Paddy Cosgrave

Ramsey Cardy/Getty

The founder of a major technology conference has resigned, saying the uproar over his condemnation of Israel’s attacks on Gaza had become a “distraction.” Paddy Cosgrave’s comment on X—“War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are”—led Google, Intel, Meta, Siemens, and Stripe to pull out of Web Summit in Lisbon. “I sincerely apologize again for any hurt I have caused,” Cosgrave said in a statement, according to The New York Times. The Nov. 13 event is expected to still go forward.

Read it at The New York Times

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