Officials in Israel, including the head of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), spoke with businessman Elon Musk after he announced on Saturday that he intends to give internet access to humanitarian organizations and UN representatives in Gaza - after the internet infrastructure in the Strip collapsed.
Israel expressed serious concern that Musk’s decision would serve Hamas and its activities in the war - and some of the government ministers, including Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi - spoke out against Musk’s intentions.
Channel 12 News reported on Sunday that, following the uproar, Musk decided to call Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar. In the conversation between the two, Musk tried to make it clear that he supports Israel and claimed that the connection would be "only for humanitarian purposes".
He also claimed that he intends to carry out "all the security checks" with the US government as well as the Israeli government before he activates "even one terminal" of his satellite network, Starlink. The Shin Bet chief, for his part, made clear that Israel will not allow "any exploitation" of this communication line by terrorist elements in the Gaza Strip.
On top of that, Musk also maintained contact with officials in the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom he met about a month ago in the United States. In the conversations with them, he made it clear that he is "not in a hurry to activate satellite communication in Gaza", and if this happens, he claimed, everything will be under American and Israeli security supervision.