Paddy Cosgrave said his "personal comments have become a distraction from the event, and our team, our sponsors, our startups and the people who attend."

Web Summit CEO Paddy Cosgrave steps down in wake of controversy over his Israel comments::Paddy Cosgrave said his “personal comments have become a distraction from the event, and our team, our sponsors, our startups and the people who attend.”

  • stifle867@programming.devEnglish
    1696·
    1 year ago

    For context what he said was:

    war crimes are war crimes even when committed by allies, and should be called out for what they are

    Apparently condemning war crimes is enough to lose your job these days.

    • hark@lemmy.worldEnglish
      532·
      1 year ago

      How dare he point out that Israel is carrying out war crimes.

      • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.worldEnglish
        12·
        1 year ago

        I, for one, do not want to live in the kind of dystopian wasteland where we allow our allies to be called out for their war crimes…

    • onlinepersona@programming.devEnglish
      53·
      1 year ago

      Even though he’s right, this is why you should have an anonymous account. Just focus on your business with your real account and stay out of trouble.

      • stifle867@programming.devEnglish
        342·
        1 year ago

        Everything you said is valid… but to me, it doesn’t really apply to this specific context. As far as I could see (admittedly I did only skim the article) but the general statement he made did not mention any specifics. I think it’s unfair to take a broad statement such as condemning war crimes, and to rebut it by saying well a lot of other people are calling this one specific instance a war crime when it hasn’t yet been proven.

          • stifle867@programming.devEnglish
            182·
            1 year ago

            It’s not a competition to see who can commit the most war crimes. This whole idea of comparing one faction against another to see who is worse is just stupid. It should not even come into play when someone simply condemns war crimes! The fact that people read so much into a simple statement says more about them than the person who posted it. If someone’s reaction to someone saying “war crimes are war crimes even when commited by your allies” is to think “well that person is justifying Hamas’s actions” then the problem lies there, just as much as it is to think “that person is saying Israel doesn’t have a right to defend themselves”.

            All it is is making the world more divisive when it should be unifying to condemn the tragic loss of innocent human life. People should not impose their factional viewpoints on something as simple as that.

              • stifle867@programming.devEnglish
                101·
                1 year ago

                These are all points to be making to a totally different conversation. The original comment that caused this person to step down was a condemnation of committing war crimes, not an analysis of which specific acts qualify as war crimes nor whether they support a specific party. These type of comments further the exact problem I pointed out. It’s not an excuse to say “but they do”. Be better, don’t make the same mistakes just because everyone else is.

      • vzq@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        1015·
        1 year ago

        declared as war crimes

        By whom exactly?

        Tell me you know nothing about the law of international armed conflict without telling me you know nothing about the law of international armed conflict.

        could (!) also be a war crime

        This is also not how war crimes work. “They started it” is for the playground.

          • vzq@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
            85·
            1 year ago

            By the International Criminal Court for example

            Guess who is not a signatory of the ICC treaty.

            If Israel were to accede it would be a cause for great celebration.

            leave your fucking twitter catchphrases out of a discussion if you want to be taken seriously…

            I don’t need you to take me seriously. I want you to understand that I’m not taking you seriously.

            Still a very grey area but not necessarily a war crime as everyone is shouting here.

            If your best case is “It might not technically be a war crime”, you are not in a great position.

            • BlueBockser@programming.devEnglish
              24·
              1 year ago

              If your best case is “It might not technically be a war crime”, you are not in a great position.

              You: Accuse Israel of war crimes

              They: Prove that Israel technically didn’t commit any war crime

              You: tHaT’s NoT a GoOd ArGuMeNt

              I’m not saying I agree with everything Israel is doing, but calling their actions war crimes when they’re not is just wrong. I hate to break it to you, but insisting on a lie doesn’t make it any more true.

              • vzq@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
                31·
                1 year ago

                It still is valid and it is a much more trustworthy source

                Just sign the fucking treaty then.

                Enough excuses.

                  • vzq@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
                    31·
                    1 year ago

                    and then what?

                    Then you subject yourself to the jurisdiction of an independent international court that is empowered to investigate war crimes. Which is exactly what this thread is about.

                    Are you paying attention?

                    Everybody is to afraid to take actions like with that russian cunt in the kreml?

                    Also not a signatory. Were Russia to join the treaty, I would again be dancing in the streets.

                    And will Hamas do the same?

                    That’s the beauty of the treaty. War crimes committed against a signatory or on a signatories territory are covered. It protects Israel regardless of who perpetrates the war crimes.

                    Sign it. There’s no reason not to.

                    Unless of course the entire point is to do war crimes, deny them, and get away with them because of the lack of international accountability mechanism.