Benjamin Netanyahu and Elon Musk Meet, as Both Seek to Deflect Criticism

Mr. Netanyahu, the Israeli leader, flew to California, where he met with Mr. Musk, the owner of X, formerly Twitter. In a live broadcast, the men discussed antisemitism, Israel’s judicial crisis and artificial intelligence.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/18/world/middleeast/netanyahu-musk-meeting.html

https://archive.ph/O0tMW


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, center, at a weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem this month.Credit...Pool photo by Ohad Zwigenberg

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Elon Musk, the owner of X, the social media platform formerly called Twitter, have both faced intense scrutiny and criticism for most of the year. Mr. Netanyahu has been the target of a nine-month wave of mass protests against his deeply contentious effort to reduce the power of Israel’s Supreme Court. Mr. Musk has been accused, among other things, of tolerating and even encouraging a surge of antisemitic abuse on X.

On Monday morning, the two men sought to find a respite from those furors — in each other’s company. Mr. Netanyahu, beginning a weeklong trip to the United States, took a 15-hour overnight flight to California, where the men met at a factory for Tesla, Mr. Musk’s electric car company, and broadcast an unusual, hourlong conversation live on X that allowed them to deflect from their respective crises.

The discussion was jocular, if disjointed. At some points the two men were expressing mutual admiration, at others they were delving into the perils and opportunities of artificial intelligence. The conversation also allowed Mr. Musk to defend against accusations of antisemitism, and Mr. Netanyahu to give a positive spin to his judicial overhaul, which critics say has undermined Israel’s democracy by reducing oversight over the government. “Balance between the three branches of government — that’s what I’m trying to achieve, nothing more,” Mr. Netanyahu said. Turning to Mr. Musk, he added, “It’s not an easy thing to be maligned — I know you’ve never seen that, right?” “Me, maligned?" Mr. Musk said, laughing. “Never.”

For Mr. Netanyahu, an encounter with the world’s richest man — partly to promote tech investment in Israel — allowed him to dismiss claims that his judicial overhaul had put off investors and harmed Israel’s start-up ecosystem. “I have helped reform the Israeli economy from a semi-socialist economy to one of the most vibrant, free-market economies,” Mr. Netanyahu said. For Mr. Musk, the meeting with the leader of the world’s only Jewish state gave him a chance to deflect a barrage of criticism from American Jews who say he has allowed X to become a vessel for antisemitic hatred.

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