Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of Portal/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo Acquire License Rights
JERUSALEM, Nov 27 (Portal) – Israel hosted Elon Musk on Monday and said it had reached an agreement in principle to use his SpaceX company’s Starlink communications in the Gaza Strip, where a lull in the war against Hamas coincided with the technology entrepreneur’s visit .
Musk’s office has not yet commented on the trip.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has scheduled an afternoon meeting with Musk. They will be accompanied by relatives of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and will also discuss “the need to take action to combat rising anti-Semitism online,” Herzog’s office said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will also meet with Musk on Monday to discuss the security aspects of artificial intelligence and hold a live online discussion, Netanyahu’s office said.
At their last meeting on September 18 in California, Netanyahu urged Musk to find a balance between protecting free speech and combating hate speech after weeks of controversy over anti-Semitism on X – the former Twitter.
Last month, as war raged in southern Israel following a series of killings and kidnappings by Hamas, Musk suggested using Starlink to support communications links in the blackout-hit Gaza enclave with “internationally recognized aid organizations.”
Shlomo Karhi of Israel’s communications department disagreed at the time, saying: “Hamas will use it (Starlink) for terrorist activities.”
But in a new approach, Karhi said on Monday that Israel and Musk had reached an agreement in principle that “Starlink satellite units may operate in Israel only with the approval of the Israeli Ministry of Communications, including in the Gaza Strip.”
In an
Musk has said he is against anti-Semitism and anything that “promotes hatred and conflict” – including on X.
Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia have increased worldwide, including during the seven-week war in Gaza. Israel and Hamas are currently in a temporary ceasefire, with some Gazan hostages and Palestinians held by Israel for security offenses being released.
On November 15, Musk agreed to a post
The White House condemned a “vile promotion of anti-Semitic and racist hatred” that “runs counter to our core values as Americans.”
Major US companies such as Walt Disney (DIS.N), Warner Bros Discovery (WBD.O) and NBCUniversal parent Comcast (CMCSA.O) have suspended their advertising on its social media site.
The “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory states that Jewish people and leftists are orchestrating the ethnic and cultural replacement of the white population with non-white immigrants, which will result in “white genocide.”
According to the Anti-Defamation League, a nonprofit that combats anti-Semitism, anti-Semitic incidents in the United States rose nearly 400% after the Gaza war broke out compared to the same period last year.
Musk has stated that
Writing by Dan Williams; Edited by Stephen Coates and Nick Macfie
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