The oft-fractious and always headline-grabbing billionaire Elon Musk was seen in Israel alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today, the two touring a site of a Hamas attack.

The visit comes at a time when Musk (pictured) is taking flak for what’s been perceived as his antisemitism. Earlier this month, he agreed with a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, resulting in a cascade of antisemitism accusations. The White House later denounced what it said was Musk’s “abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate.”

This happened almost in tandem with a report from the pressure group Media Matters that suggested ads for leading U.S. companies had appeared on X next to content relating to Nazism and Holocaust denial. Subsequently, some of the U.S.’s biggest companies pulled their ads from X, losing the company millions of dollars. X soon filed a lawsuit against Media Matters, stating it had “manipulated” data in an attempt to “destroy” X.

Musk later denied he harbors any antisemitic feelings, stating, “I wish only the best for humanity and a prosperous and exciting future for all.” Just hours ago, as he was engaged in his tour is Israel, he wrote, “Trite as it may sound, I wish for world peace.” On his motivation for traveling across the world, he’d earlier written, “Actions speak louder than words.”

On his trip, Musk met with Israel President Isaac Herzog, who at his house sat down with Musk and shared what seemed like some stern words, telling Musk he has a “huge role to play” in preventing what he said was a rise of “Jew hatred” in the world.

“We need to fight it together because on the platforms which you lead, unfortunately, there’s a harboring of a lot of all the hate,” Herzog said. “You’ve seen how evil can supersede everything, you’ve seen it this morning, you’ve seen what hate can bring about, you’ve seen how thought turns into evil, into hate, and into bloodshed.”

X has been accused of allowing hate speech and disinformation to flourish, which could be a result of Musk saving costs and firing much of what was then Twitter’s moderation department. Nonetheless, it seems Musk and Netanyahu are on good terms, the two meeting in the recent past in what seemed like a friendly setting.

Talking about Hamas, Musk said in a video, “These people have been fed propaganda since they were children.” He added, “It’s remarkable what humans are capable of if they are fed falsehoods since they are children. They can think that murdering innocent people is a good thing. That’s how much propaganda can affect people’s minds.”

The meeting today came with the added bonus of Israel and Musk seemingly getting closer to inking a deal regarding the use of Starlink satellites in Gaza.

Photo: Israel government press office