Watch Live: Musk-Netanyahu Discuss A.I. & Innovation
Amid a wave of accusations akin to claiming the African American is the next 'Hitler' - enabling and emplifying anti-semitism everywhere anywhere all at once - Elon Musk is sitting down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a live Spaces discussion about innovation and artificial intelligence.
Click the link below to listen to the Spaces discussion (Spaces cannot be directly embedded) (due to start at 1215ET):
LIVE: Speaking with @elonmusk about how we can harness the opportunities and mitigate the risks of AI for the good of civilization. https://t.co/XiAQwOXzcP
— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) September 18, 2023
As we detailed on Friday, The Washington Post and other major outlets are busy trying to hype it as but PR damage control, Bibi's office emphasized that the Monday Silicon Valley meeting with Musk and other tech leaders is all about discussing artificial intelligence.
Still none of that could get in the way of the narrative that X is a hive-mind of ADL-defaming, anti-semitic racism (or transphobism or whetever is the latest protected class).
The WaPo in a Thursday report framed the whole initiative, without presenting any verifiable evidence, as follows: "The meeting is the latest step in a campaign by Musk’s Jewish friends and allies, and executives of his social media company, to stave off the mounting controversy, according to five people familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share behind-the-scenes conversations."
And the report referenced the first round of controversy earlier this past summer, writing, "This summer, Netanyahu smoothed things over in a conversation with Musk after the X owner repeated antisemitic tropes about Jewish financier George Soros."
But at the time, the very Israeli minister in charge of combating antisemitism, Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, had this to say:
"As Israel’s minister who’s entrusted on combating antisemitism, I would like to clarify that the Israeli government and the vast majority of Israeli citizens see Elon Musk as an amazing entrepreneur and a role model."
Chikli continued pushing back, referencing some Musk posts on X: "Criticism of Soros – who finances the most hostile organizations to the Jewish people and the state of Israel is anything but antisemitism, quite the opposite!" the Israeli minister said.
But again, with this upcoming meeting the Israeli government itself is emphasizing that Netanyahu as "a champion of Israel's high tech sector" wants to advance the conversation on innovation with leading AI and tech moguls in the US.
Regardless, critics are now attacking Netanyahu for "enabling hate" by holding such a visible meeting with Musk on his US tour. The WaPo report suggests as much too, and takes the form of a hit piece rather than objective legitimate reporting.
The Times of Israel is meanwhile reporting on planned protests set for Monday:
Israelis in San Francisco said they intended to protest the meeting.
"It’s deeply disturbing that Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the world’s only Jewish state, is flying across America to seek the counsel and support from a notorious enabler of anti-Jewish hate speech," Offir Gutelzon, an Israeli tech entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, told The Washington Post.
Among the difficulties to the claims that Netanyahu's meeting with Musk is all about powerful, influential Jews and the Israeli government supposedly running cover for Musk is that fact that these types of trips (by a head of state) are typically weeks in planning.
It also remains that Musk-Netanyahu cooperation on AI has been long in process: "In June, Netanyahu also announced that he was setting up a team to formulate Israel’s policy on artificial intelligence after conversations with Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Netanyahu has said he wants to make Israel a world leader in AI," Israeli media has previously confirmed.
