The arrival of Elon Musk (
@elonmusk
) in Israel naturally caused quite a bit of buzz. There were those who criticized the prime minister (
@netanyahu
who invited Musk) and the chairman of the state camp, who paid a lot of attention to him. Some even call him "the richest man in the world" as if someone is thinking of extorting X donations from him, and some claim that he is anti-Semitic. I met with him yesterday for an hour - the story is completely different.

Musk owns companies that develop the most advanced and most important technologies in the sense of shaping the future of humanity. Recyclable rockets, satellite networks for communication, advanced batteries for vehicles, houses and cities, and also other projects in the pipeline, which include a very important effort in artificial intelligence, and critical infrastructures for the coming decades. Developments that will be our and our children's everyday life soon. As someone who deals with identifying trends, and investing in products that change paradigms and create new markets, I learned how important mutual feeding is. The concept of "Beit Midrash", which our sages developed and adopted thousands of years ago, is a fertile ground for exponential progress. Even if sometimes it seems like a new and seemingly unrelated creation 'out of nowhere', experience shows that it just happens. It is very important that we are connected to what is happening.

Musk does not intend to stop, and I remind you that Israeli high-tech was built on pioneering companies, and thanks to large international companies such as Microsoft, Intel, Motorola, Apple that established centers in Israel for the development of futuristic technologies. Along the way, we learned here scalable management methods that enable activity on a global scale. Therefore, it is important for the State of Israel that the companies in Musk's group also develop here with us at least some of the most advanced ideas and technologies of tomorrow. It is important to remember that beyond the economic value itself, connections with the global giants are beneficial to Israel's national security, and to maintaining the technological advantage that is critical to our security. You must have seen who else was in the room yesterday. There are economic and security opportunities here that are essential for the country.

On a higher level - Musk holds under his hands technologies for a new type of country - an alocal entity that has almost everything except land. It has energy "infrastructure" and has satellite communication. He also has the X network (formerly Twitter) that connects audiences the size of the world's largest empires, and he is active in space - a kind of territory, even if it is difficult to draw it on a map or in your head. I don't know if his dream of establishing a colony on Mars will come true in the foreseeable future, but it is important to get to know closely where the world is going. And again, Musk has technologies for the products of the future.

Musk calls the X network - the new city square. And he is right. The power of the old institutions, such as the government and the traditional media bodies, has been decreasing for a decade due to the accessibility of all of us to the digital city square, where it is relatively easy to hear and be heard, a privilege that was previously reserved only for virtuous individuals who were "privileged" to appear on television or that editors put in the newspaper according to their personal taste . It's easy to see how the different line-ups of all the editions we watch are based on the conversation on this network (and it doesn't matter if it's 13, 12, 11 or 14) so ​​that in fact, in many cases the creators have already reversed - the social network feeds the media bodies, and basically determines the order Today. and especially Twitter-X.
In today's reality, a tweet by Elon Musk is like being on prime time in one hundred and fifty countries at the same time, which Fox News, CNN, BBC and the Haaretz newspaper cannot do, not even together. You can like it and you can not like it, but these are the facts. If so, the magnitude of the impact of his presence in Israel during a war should not be assumed. The number of followers he has and the resonance of his actions create a reality. When he labels the Prime Minister, the President or Minister Gantz, it contributes a lot to Israeli public diplomacy and Israel's positioning in the world. A picture of Elon Musk looking at a hammock full of bullets hanging between two trees in a kibbutz in the Gaza Strip is worth far more to the State of Israel than any of our politicians, and possibly even more than a ballistic missile or two. His decision to wear a badge that will remind him and the world of the abductees, is of great value.

Some claim that the man is anti-Semitic. These claims stem from the interpretation of various tweets and also the presence of those who are not Shlomino's active network X. Thanks to my professional world, I know dozens of people who are friends with Musk and meet with him in various circles, a significant number of them Jewish. I didn't meet a single one who thought he was anti-Semitic, and I asked. I sat down with him yesterday for an hour, my personal impression of what he said, of the questions he asked, and of what interested him in general, was the opposite: yes, he has criticism of some Jewish organizations, so do I and Elena Nieuhaus of Tablet and others in the written press of American Jewry ( and about that in a separate tweet). In the bottom line, Musk has interests, perception of reality and worldviews like everyone else, but it can be said outright that he loves Israel and loves Adam.
Some argue that even if he himself is not anti-Semitic, he allows conspiracy theorists and those with long-standing anti-Semitic views to live on his platform. First, Twitter clearly has less anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic influences compared to platforms like Instagram and certainly Tiktok (soon this will be proven in numbers).
Second, we are in the midst of a global change process. Including our attitude towards countries, including relations between the countries themselves, including wars, including a technological transition from the age of the Internet to the age of artificial intelligence, and including the lack of political leadership in most of the world and a transition to the multinational leadership influence of large companies. The paradigm shift has not yet stabilized and we are in the middle of the process. But in the process we also pave the way and influence the final result.
In this reality there is a struggle between the establishment media and the media of the new world. For those in the know, this can be compared to the transition from 'closed source' to 'open source' in the software world. X has already been said to be "open source communication", which by definition, like the city square, is more messy and less routed. City Square and open source enable much more than closed, or editor-controlled, code produces. It has advantages and it has disadvantages. We are in the middle of it and I understand that we still do not know all the advantages and disadvantages until the end. But this is the future world, and it is already here. It is important that we refer to reality and the future and not to wishful thinking or longing for a "clean" or "defensible" future that will not return. Without a doubt, the X network allows for an open and wide range of opinions. The new rules are still being determined, so it is important to be there and be attentive to those who guide the development of the network. You can also see the quick adaptation of Musk and Twitter who have already developed community notes, a tool that helps deny fake news, and allows anyone to contradict a celebrity or authority and bring him, or her, to their knees when they fake.
In this context it is important to note that Elon Musk was the first to attack the slogan "from the river to the sea" - from the river to the sea - and identified it as a call for the Holocaust for the State of Israel. In the most enlightened universities, reading was not banned and this, in my opinion, indicates the man. But a new world and uncertainty unsettles us, unsettles the elders of the community at times, and allows for all kinds of manipulations that are based on "what was". Journalists who cling to the horns of the altar of the old world should also try to break through paradigms and think about the era before us and not about the one that has already passed.
One last point - Musk announced that he is here to stay - he intends to take part in the reconstruction of Gaza. As far as I understand, this was not his plan in advance, but it is a direct result of the tour he made here in Israel and the meeting yesterday with the Prime Minister which I attended. We will need patience because the campaign is long and at the end of it will be necessary to rebuild Gaza. A deep and fundamental reconstruction that starts with humanitarian islands and includes de-Hamasization in education and mosques, building a new physical space, better security and governance arrangements, and above all the presence of an agenda of a reformed society that works to improve the quality of life. The reconstruction of Germany and Japan after World War II was critical to eighty years of world peace, turning them from enemies into partners.
We need business, state, political and international allies to build Gaza differently in the decades ahead. Elon Musk is definitely one of several honorable and worthy partners. Not a financial partner who has a lot of money, but a strategic partner who has a lot of potential to be part of a truly new Middle East.