Intel and Siemens said they were withdrawing from the Web Summit, Europe’s largest technology conference, after the event’s leaders criticized Western support for Israel following Hamas attacks.
The U.S. chipmaker confirmed on Thursday that it would “withdraw from the Web Summit.” Representatives for the Santa Clara, California-based company, which has long-standing operations in Israel, declined to comment further.
German engineering and manufacturing company Siemens ranked among global leaders top sponsors A summit is scheduled to take place in Lisbon next month. But a representative said that after “reviewing the situation,” the company will no longer be a partner or participate in the event this year.
Y Combinator’s Garry Tan, Sequoia Capital’s Ravi Gupta and other prominent venture capitalists also canceled plans to attend the event. Several Israeli tech executives also dropped out.
Paddy Cosgrave, director of the event, posted Apologize earlier this week. “I know that what I said, the timing of it, and the way I said it caused profound hurt to many people,” he said on the Web Summit website. “To anyone who was hurt by my words, I deeply regret it.” Apologize.”
He initially posted about the conflict last week and reiterated the sentiment in subsequent posts.
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