Google Was Set to Host an Israeli Military Conference. When We Asked About It, the Event Disappeared.
theintercept.com
Google’s Tel Aviv office was to host a military tech conference in Israel, but the event page was scrubbed after The Intercept asked about it.

The Israeli Defense Tech Conference, aimed at tech companies working with the Israeli military, was scheduled for November at the Google for Startups campus in Tel Aviv.

The event, according to a listing posted on the event RSVP app Luma, was pitched at “founders, investors and innovators” looking to network and learn more about the defense tech space. It was co-sponsored by Google, Fusion Venture Capital, Genesis, a startup accelerator, and the Israeli military’s research and development arm, known as the Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D, or Ma’fat).

When The Intercept contacted Google, the event page disappeared.

Google was not only listed as the physical host of the event and one of its sponsors, but the event listing also included a notice that attendees “approve of sharing [their] details with the organizers (Fusion & Google)” as part of signing up.

When The Intercept contacted Google, as well as the other companies and venture capital firms on the event page, the event page disappeared.

  • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
    472·
    2 months ago

    I don’t understand why companies have such a hard on for Israel. This is nuts. They’re literally committing genocide, and people are just shrugging at it.

    • eacapesamsara@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      301·
      2 months ago

      Genuinely it’s money. Israel, and most importantly Zionist supporters of Israel, have access to ridiculous amounts of investment funding. Most western billionaires and venture capitalists are Zionist in their personal lives for whatever reason. It’s why the BDS movement isn’t really going to affect Israel.

      • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
        16·
        2 months ago

        I was reading an article about it after I asked this question. Apparently, the U.S. thinks they are strategically important to maintain access to oil in the region. Always comes back to oil… 😒

        • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
          15·
          2 months ago

          Alexander Haig:

          Israel is the largest American aircraft carrier in the world that cannot be sunk, does not carry even one American soldier, and is located in a critical region for American national security.

        • halowpeano@lemmy.world
          4·
          2 months ago

          You don’t understand what a mass surveillance company selling personal details, including location, relationships, search history, and more, on everyone on earth, would sell to people doing a genocide?

          Probably tacos.

        • OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml
          1·
          2 months ago

          Wartime means taxes from citizens. Private companies offer to help the government for said taxes to help fuel the war machine