Israeli leaders plan to stress to Musk the plight of captives in Gaza and focus on rising anti-Semitism on-line.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk has arrived in Israel to kick off a high-profile journey to the nation amid the continued truce with Palestinian group Hamas.
Musk’s airplane touched down in Tel Aviv on Monday morning, mentioned Israeli aviation knowledgeable Avi Scharf, citing an aviation tracker. The billionaire is predicted to fulfill with officers together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog, in addition to relations of Hamas-held captives, Israeli media reported.
The journey comes on the fourth day of an ongoing truce between Israel and Hamas, throughout which Israel is recovering dozens of captives in alternate for the discharge of Palestinian prisoners.
It additionally comes amid concern about misinformation and hate speech on Musk’s social media platform X, seven weeks into the Gaza warfare, and hypothesis over how his satellite tv for pc web community Starlink may increase connectivity within the besieged Palestinian enclave.
Settlement on Starlink
As Musk arrived, Israel introduced it had struck an settlement “in precept” to make use of SpaceX’s Starlink communications channel in Gaza.
The settlement marked a serious shift for Israel, whose communication minister beforehand dismissed the thought of opening up Starlink to Gaza as a result of it mentioned Hamas would use it for “terrorist actions”.
However on Monday, Israeli Communication Minister Shlomo Karhi introduced Israel had reached an settlement in precept beneath which “Starlink satellite tv for pc items can solely be operated in Israel with the approval of the Israeli Ministry of Communications, together with the Gaza Strip”.
In an X publish addressed to Musk, Karhi mentioned he hoped the entrepreneur’s go to to Israel “will function a springboard for future endeavors, in addition to improve your relationship with the Jewish folks and values we share with your entire world”.
Elon Musk, I congratulate you for reaching a precept understanding with the Ministry of Communications beneath my management.
Because of this important settlement, Starlink satellite tv for pc items can solely be operated in Israel with the approval of the Israeli Ministry of…
— 🇮🇱שלמה קרעי – Shlomo Karhi (@shlomo_karhi) November 27, 2023
‘Fight anti-Semitism’
Musk, who has been criticised for failing to curb hate speech on X, was as a result of meet with Israeli President Herzog and households of Hamas-held captives. Herzog mentioned he would “emphasise the necessity to act to fight rising anti-Semitism on-line”.
Musk can be set to fulfill with Prime Minister Netanyahu, who expressed related issues to the tech entrepreneur throughout their final assembly in September.
Musk mentioned on the time that he opposed anti-Semitism and stood towards something that “promotes hate and battle.”
Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia have risen in america and worldwide, together with through the now seven-week-old warfare between Israel and Hamas within the besieged Gaza Strip.
X has been a key supply of data and debate concerning the Gaza warfare, with authorities officers, in addition to pro-Israel and pro-Palestine customers, sharing content material. Nevertheless, critics say it has additionally amplified misinformation, conspiracy theories, and hateful content material, together with anti-Semitism, through the battle.
Musk has himself been accused of enjoying a job in spreading such content material.
On November 15, he agreed with a publish on X that falsely claimed Jewish folks have been stoking hatred towards white folks, saying the consumer who referenced the “nice substitute” conspiracy principle was talking “the precise reality”.
The White Home condemned what it known as an “abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate” that “runs towards our core values as Individuals”.
Main US corporations together with Walt Disney, Warner Bros Discovery and NBCUniversal dad or mum Comcast paused their ads on his social media web site.
