Paddy Cosgrave, co-founder of Web Summit, returned to lead the technology company six months after leaving his post over what were considered controversial statements about the war between Israel and Hamas.
“I went back to meet up with old friends from Web Summit and took the opportunity to find out what they were saying and what they wanted from the company,” he was quoted as saying. RTE.
Recall that Paddy Cosgrave came under fire after publishing in X magazine on October 13 that “war crimes are war crimes even if committed by allies,” referring to the Israeli response in the Gaza Strip following the Hamas attacks on October 7.
The announcements have prompted several companies such as Alphabet, the owner of Google, and Meta, which owns platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, inform them that they will not be attending the event.
“Unfortunately, my comments became a distraction to the event, our team, sponsors and startups,” he explained in a statement following his resignation.