What's behind Elon Musk's visit to Israel, meeting with Netanyahu?
On a visit to Israel, American billionaire Elon Musk called for a halt to the hate propaganda that he said enabled the Oct. 7 attack and also expressed willingness to help reconstruct Gaza.
During a visit to Israel on Monday, Tesla and X owner Elon Musk toured the site of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel and said he’d like to help rebuild Gaza after the war.
Hosting a live chat on X with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Musk said, "Those who are intent on murder must be neutralized, then the propaganda must stop — that is [stopping] training people to be murderers in the future, and then, making Gaza prosperous. If that happens, I think there will be a good future." Netanyahu responded to this statement by saying, "I hope you will be involved in it," to which Musk responded, "I’d like to help."
Musk in Israel — why now?
Judging by his different meetings and statements, Musk's visit focused on two topics: showing solidarity with Israel after the Oct. 7 attack, and expressing his commitment to fight online antisemitism against the backdrop of accusations on different occasions that he was tolerating or even supporting antisemitic-toned remarks or far-right/hate expressions on X.
