Musk Says He’d Like to Help Rebuild Gaza in Chat With Netanyahu

Billionaire Elon Musk said that he’d like to help rebuild Gaza after the Israel-Hamas war in a conversation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his social-media platform X. 

It’s important to first “deradicalize” the Palestinian territories, similar to how other Arab states have become more moderate in recent years, including Saudi Arabia, Netanyahu said in a live discussion broadcast on the site formerly known as Twitter on Monday.

Musk, who is under fire for amplifying antisemitic content on X, is meeting with Israeli officials and toured the Kfar Aza kibbutz where some of the worst violence occurred on Oct. 7, when Hamas militants broke through the country’s border barriers and attacked civilians. Musk described seeing bullet shell casings in cribs on the tour. 

After watching footage of the attack by Hamas, designated a terrorist group by the US and European Union, Musk called the apparent joy expressed by the killers “evil” and “jarring.” Israel has been showing footage of the attack by Hamas in screenings around the world.

Still, Netanyahu didn’t address the latest antisemitism row on X in the approximately 20-minute broadcast. Musk has defended himself from what he labeled “bogus media stories” after he endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory earlier this month on X. Major brands including Apple Inc. and Walt Disney Co. have stopped advertising on his social media platform over concerns of increasing antisemitism and hate speech since he took over Twitter last year.

Musk’s trip to Israel will also include meetings with Benny Gantz, an opposition leader and member of the three-man war cabinet and President Isaac Herzog.