Elon Musk visits scene of kibbutz massacre with
Benjamin Netanyahu
Pair speak about Gaza conflict but not online
antisemitism nor controversial post made by X owner this month
Dan Milmo
and agencies
Mon 27 Nov
2023 18.47 GMT
Elon Musk
has joined the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in visiting a
kibbutz that was attacked by Hamas on 7 October, after criticism of his
endorsement of an antisemitic post on X.
The owner
of X, the site formerly known as Twitter, has been criticised for supporting a
post on his platform that falsely claimed Jewish people were stoking hatred
against white people. High-profile advertisers have also suspended spending on
the site after a report that ads were appearing next to pro-Nazi content.
On Monday
Musk, the world’s richest man, and Netanyahu toured Kfar Aza, a kibbutz that
Hamas militants attacked on 7 October as part of its assault that killed 1,200
people, triggering an Israeli military offensive in Gaza.
Video
released by Netanyahu’s office showed Musk, wearing a protective vest, taking
photos or videos of the devastation in Kfar Aza where dozens of people were
killed. “It was jarring to see the scene of the massacre,” Musk later said in
an X Spaces conversation with Netanyahu. Musk said he was troubled by video and
photos that the prime minister showed him of the killings of civilians,
including children.
They spoke
broadly about the conflict, the protests it has generated, Hamas, the Middle
East and more but did not touch on antisemitism online nor on Musk’s
controversial post.
Hearing
Netanyahu describe the destruction of Hamas, which Israel has set as a war
goal, as necessary for any prospective peace with the Palestinians, Musk
sounded his general agreement. “Those that are intent on murder must be
neutralised,” he said. “The propaganda must stop that is training people to be
murderers in the future. And then, making Gaza prosperous. And if that happens,
I think it will be a good future.”
Netanyahu
replied: “I hope you will be involved. And the fact that you came here, I
think, speaks volumes to your commitment to try to secure a better future.”
Musk later
met with Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, who said that the tech mogul has “a
huge role to play” to combat antisemitism, which his social media platform is
accused of spreading.
“I think we
need to fight it together because on the platforms which you lead,
unfortunately, there’s a harbouring of a lot of … antisemitism,” Herzog said.
Musk faced
widespread condemnation, including from the White House, after he agreed with a
post on X on 15 November that read: “Jewish communties [sic] have been pushing
the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want
people to stop using against them.” Musk responded on X with: “You have said
the actual truth.”
Israel’s
communications minister, Shlomo Karhi, posted on X on Monday about a deal his
ministry had reached with Musk’s Starlink satellite internet company. Musk had
proposed deploying Starlink in Gaza for use by “internationally recognised aid
organisations”.
“As a
result of this significant agreement, Starlink satellite units can only be
operated in Israel with the approval of the Israeli Ministry of Communications,
including the Gaza Strip,” Karhi wrote, without providing further details.
Reuters and
Associated Press contributed to this article.
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