Elon Musk Visits Israel, Tours Kibbutz With Prime Minister Netanyahu 

The billionaire also came to an agreement with the Israeli government on operations of Starlink satellite technology

Tesla Founder Elon Musk Testifies In Court In Case Surrounding Tesla's Purchase Of SolarCity
Elon Musk (Credit: Michael A. McCoy/Getty Images)

Elon Musk arrived in Israel and visited with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, touring one of the communities impacted by the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7. 

Musk has come under fire in recent weeks for reposting and agreeing with antisemitic sentiment on his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. Last week, an Israeli media outlet N12 reported that Musk was expected to visit Israel and meet with Netanyahu as well as Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog. 

On Monday, Netanyahu posted a picture of him and Musk on X viewing some of the destruction in Kibbutz Kfar Aza after the Oct. 7 attack. Netanyahu wrote that this was intended to “show him up close the crimes against humanity committed by Hamas.” 

The Prime Minister’s official account on X posted conference room photos with Musk present, saying that a meeting was held after their visit to the kibbutz. According to the post, “The PM showed Musk sections of the film that was prepared by the IDF Spokesperson and which shows the horrors of the massacre perpetrated by Hamas on October 7th.”

Additionally, Netanyahu and Musk then held an “extended meeting” on the security of artificial intelligence. “Senior security establishment officials in the fields of artificial intelligence and cyber participated in the meeting,” the post said. 

Musk also visited the Israeli Knesset, seen in a photo with Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana in the main parliamentary chamber.

Not everyone was thrilled with Musk’s visit, however. The editor-in-chief of left-leaning Israeli newspaper Haaretz Esther Solomon posted on X calling Musk a “blatant antisemite” and “publisher of antisemitism,” and saying he “should be persona non grata in Israel.”

“Instead, Netanyahu – plumbing new depths of amoral sycophancy,” Solomon continued. “Profane, venal, bilious, both of them.” 

Earlier on Monday, the Minister of Communications for the Israeli Knesset Shlomo Karhi announced an agreement with Musk’s Starlink satellite technology. According to a post on X, Starlink “can only be operated in Israel with the approval of the Israeli Ministry of Communications, including the Gaza Strip.”

“As the State of Israel fights against Hamas – ISIS, this understanding is vital, as is it for everyone who desires a better world, free of evil and free of anti-Semitism, for our children’s sake,” wrote Karhi on Musk’s own platform. 

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