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Calls to boycott tech company Stripe after CEO posts about recent visit to Israel

Irish-American billionaire Patrick Collison is under fire after posting on X about his run in Tel Aviv, not far from Gaza war
Patrick Collison speaks in San Francisco, California in 2018 (Phillip Faraone/AFP)
By Maysa Mustafa
Published date: 28 November 2024 20:54 GMT | Last update: 10 min 50 sec ago

Supporters of Palestine have called to boycott the payment platform Stripe after its CEO and co-founder Patrick Collison - an Irish-American billionaire who has advocated for Palestinians in the past - posted on social media on Wednesday about his run on the beach in Tel Aviv and how it was "great" to be back.  

Many responded to his post on X by pointing out that he was only thirty minutes away from the Gaza Strip. Conservative estimates say nearly 44,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's war on Gaza and two million have been under constant Israeli aggression as they fight what UN experts have called "'deliberate starvation". 

Some drew comparisons to the Academy Award-winning film, Zone of Interest, which depicts the everyday lives of Germans who lived next to the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War Two. 

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Pro-Israelis on social media deemed Patrick's post as a signal of his support for the state and thanked him for his solidarity. The official Israel X account was among the responses that welcomed him.

The post came as a surprise for those who have closely followed his tech career. In 2019, Patrick visited the occupied Palestinian territories and spoke to Palestinian tech entrepreneurs in Ramallah about the obstacles they face in the tech world. 

Irish tech founder Paul Biggar, who also founded the Tech for Palestine coalition, took to X to criticise him, posting: "Why are folks are so pissed at @patrickc's tweet? It's because, unlike a lot of people, he actually knows what Israel is doing". 

According to a Bloomberg article about Patrick's visit to Ramallah, the Irish CEO told the young Palestinians that he could "perhaps relate to a feeling of isolation and the struggle to make an impact on the world" because he had grown up in rural Ireland. 

"There is that sense of comparative inferiority. You are clearly much less significant than the bigger forces around you," he reportedly said. 

He also said he wanted to expand Stripe’s business to occupied Palestine, adding that the company is “drawn by places that the rest of the world tends to underestimate”. 

Biggar also pointed out that Patrick led the seed round for a Palestinian teen's start-up in Gaza back in 2021 and posted about Israel's attacks on Gaza in 2014. 

Others pointed out that although Patrick has expressed support for Palestinians, his brother and co-founder of Stripe, Tommy, has been open about his support for Zionism. His current bio on X features the word "Zionist" in Hebrew.

Irish social media users reacting to Patrick's post from Tel Aviv criticised both of the Collison brothers for showing support for Israel, which is in direct contrast to a majority of Irish citizens' support for the Palestinian cause. 

Ireland officially recognised Palestine as an independent state in May of this year.

"Boycott @Stripe whose immoral business owners support an apartheid state carrying out genocide. Disgraceful and these cruel tech bros don't speak for the Irish people," one post reads. 

In response to Patrick's post, some social media users who have used Stripe in the past said they will no longer use the payment platform and called for a boycott. 

"I am removing @stripe from my tech stack," one account posted on X. "I don’t care if it means I’m losing money."

Tech for Palestine's Biggar has already created a website featuring a list of 72 alternatives to Stripe as a payment platform. The list is being circulated under posts criticising Patrick for his "support" for Israel. 

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