Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Elon Musk in Washington on Wednesday, after his address to the US Congress, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement on Thursday.
The two discussed opportunities and challenges in AI, as well as its influence on the economy and society, and opportunities for technological cooperation with Israel, the statement added.
Musk visited Israel this past November and later sat down with Netanyahu for a discussion that was broadcast on Musk’s social media site X.
Musk, who earlier that day visited Kibbutz Kfar Aza, which was ravaged during Hamas’ October 7 massacre, and viewed footage of the horrors, spoke about what he saw.
Netanyahu later compared the fight against Hamas to that against the Nazis, noting the destruction done to Germany during the war and how no one thought to protest it.
Wednesday’s meeting between the two came a day after Musk announced that his Starlink communications system is now active in a Gaza hospital.
“Starlink is now active in a Gaza hospital with the support of the UAE and Israel,” Musk wrote in a post on X.
Starlink provides satellite internet coverage to 80 countries and also aims to provide global mobile broadband.
In October, three weeks after Hamas’ attack on Israel and the war in Gaza which followed, Musk promised to connect international humanitarian organizations operating in Gaza to Starlink's satellite internet, following the collapse of all ISPs in Gaza due to Israeli attacks on Hamas infrastructure.
Officials in Israel, including the head of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), spoke with Musk after his announcement, and expressed serious concern that Musk’s decision would serve Hamas and its activities in the war.
Musk later decided to call Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and made clear that he supports Israel and claimed that the connection would be "only for humanitarian purposes".
In February, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi and representatives of Starlink reached agreements regarding the Starlink service in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli security authorities approved the provision of Starlink services at the UAE's field hospital operating in Rafah.