Amazon joins Web Summit defection over Israel comments

Amazon.com Inc. joined companies and investors bowing out of the upcoming Web Summit technology conference in Europe after the event's leader made controversial comments about Israel.

A representative for Amazon Web Services confirmed Friday that the company wouldn't be participating in the conference, scheduled for November in Lisbon. AWS, Amazon's cloud-computing division, was previously listed as a partner of the conference and one of its vice presidents, Vishal Sharma, was scheduled to speak.

A growing contingent of companies have backed out of Web Summit, joining a raft of venture capitalists from Israel, the US and Europe in snubbing the event. Intel Corp., Siemens AG, Google parent Alphabet Inc. and Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc. have all said they no longer plan to go.


The cancellations came after Paddy Cosgrave, the head of Web Summit, criticised Western support for Israel on social media. “War crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies,” he said about Israel's response to the Hamas attacks.

WEB SUMMIT CEO STEPS DOWN AFTER ISRAEL CONTROVERSY
Paddy Cosgrave has stepped down from his role as chief executive officer of Web Summit after his remarks following attacks on Israel earlier this month caused highprofile attendees, including Alphabet Inc. and Meta Inc., to pull out of the show.