Paddy Cosgrave didn’t seem bothered when people first began to pull out of Web Summit, the renowned technology conference that he ran, in response to his social media posts he made about the conflict in Gaza. In fact, the Irish businessman doubled down on his provocative stance that Israel was committing “war crimes” in Gaza. “I will not relent,” he wrote online.

Eventually, he did. After more investors and companies canceled their participation, Cosgrave issued an apology, then, eight days after his first social media posts, announced his resignation as chief executive officer of Web Summit.