The dispute over the attitude to the Middle East war leads to a major boycott in the technology industry, which also affects Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck’s travel plans.
It’s about Europe’s largest tech conference, the Web Summit in Lisbon. Late on Wednesday afternoon, the Ministry of Economic Affairs confirmed that Habeck would not come to Lisbon. He was scheduled to speak at the Web Summit on Tuesday. The topic of his speech: “Germany’s path to a progressive future.”
The debate was triggered by the fact that Paddy Cosgrave, co-founder and head of the conference, sharply criticized Israel. Cosgrave is a busy networker. His conference attracts more than 70,000 visitors annually, primarily because of the prominent guests. The appearances of heads of state, CEOs and football stars make the Web Summit one of the most important events in the industry.
On Tuesday, a coalition of Israeli entrepreneurs who live in Germany wrote an open letter to Habeck. The authors asked him to cancel the appearance in Lisbon. He must now follow up his “historic speech” in which he assured Israel and Jews in Germany of his solidarity.
The tech entrepreneur revolt is a disaster for the Web Summit
The Irish entrepreneur Cosgrave co-founded the Web Summit and moved with it from Dublin to Lisbon in 2016. The 41 year old does not avoid political disputes. He mostly represents left-wing positions, but also invites right-wing politicians like Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage and controversial investors like Peter Thiel to his conference.
Paddy Cosgrave has resigned as head of the Web Summit conference.
(Photo: Armando Franca/AP)
In recent weeks, the discussion surrounding his statements has escalated. On the day of Hamas’s massacre of Israelis, he published a historical comparison of Palestinian death tolls with Israeli ones on Platform X. The number of dead Palestinians has been significantly higher over the years. This post on the day of the attack on Israel struck supporters of the country as if Cosgrave wanted to make the victim the perpetrator. He also wrote about the Israeli bombings: “War crimes are war crimes, even if they are committed by allies.” How Western states – apart from Ireland – supported Israel in the war shocked him.
From the perspective of Israel’s supporters, it is irresponsible to equate the victims of the terrorist organization Hamas with those of the Israeli army, which responds to terror. It is said that Nazi Germany lost more people than the USA, which ended the barbarism of the Germans in a video by Ran Harnevo. In it, the Israeli tech entrepreneur and former AOL manager settles accounts with Cosgrave: “We came to the Web Summit in droves. We will never do it again.” Harnevo is not suspected of blind loyalty to Netanyahu’s government. He is one of the spokesmen of social resistance to Netanyahu’s judicial reform.
The uprising by Israeli tech entrepreneurs is a disaster for Web Summit, where the conference has only just recovered from pandemic cancellations. The country’s start-up scene is considered one of the best in the world.
After Cosgrave’s resignation, the former head of the foundation behind Wikipedia took over
On October 17th apologized yourself Cosgrave. In it, he condemned “Hamas’ evil, disgusting, monstrous attack” and “fully supported” Israel’s right to self-defense. But the criticism didn’t stop. Meta, Google, Intel, Siemens canceled their participation. On October 21, Cosgrave resigned. Katherine Maher, former head of the foundation behind Wikipedia, took over.
The authors of the open letter nevertheless wrote that Habeck should not fly to the Web Summit. A cancellation would “send a clear signal against unacceptable comments that undermine Israel’s legitimate right to self-defense and would strengthen your standing in the global industry committed to ethical business practices.” The managers Mor Eini and Karin Shalev-Shogol signed “on behalf of the Israeli tech and business community in Germany”.
The Federal Ministry of Economics now justifies the cancellation with two things: “This was decided in the overall view, especially against the background of the current political events in Portugal,” said a spokeswoman for the South German newspaper. “The discussion about the Web Summit also played a role.”
The “current political events” probably mean the government crisis in Portugal, which caused Habeck to lose several people to talk to. Prime Minister António Costa unexpectedly resigned on Tuesday because the judiciary is investigating him and other members of the government on suspicion of corruption. Among other things, it concerns the suspicion of illegal practices such as bribery and taking advantage in the awarding of concessions for lithium mining and the production of green hydrogen – a project in which the German federal government also has great interest.