Musk arrived in Israel on Monday. Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Tech billionaire Elon Musk has defended Israel saying it was “troubling” to see protests against Israel across the globe to stop the bombing of Gaza.
The South Africa-born Musk arrived in Israel on Monday to kick off a high-profile trip to the country amid the ongoing truce with Palestinian group Hamas.
He voiced support for Israel saying one challenge was “ultimately stopping the propaganda that is convincing people to engage in, you know, murder”.
Quoting Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz, who recently referred to Hamas as the “new Nazis” during his visit to Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said those demonstrating were doing it “either out of ignorance or malevolence” and they were “protesting for the wrong side.”
Musk agreed.
“I mean it was troubling to see massive protests in almost every major city in favour of Hamas or as they are generally characterised as sort of a free Palestine movement.
“I think one can generally agree that a good future for Palestinians… the challenge is how do you really get rid of the one who are hellbent on murdering Jewish people while minimising civilian casualties and then ultimately stopping the propaganda that is convincing people to engage in, you know, murder,” Musk stuttered.
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Musk claimed that Israel tried to avoid killing civilians.
This is despite Israel’s deadly bombardment of Gaza which killed nearly 15,000 people, including 10,000 women and children, in over 50 days, making it the deadliest war for the besieged Palestinian enclave to date, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
“The rebuttal is often made that Israel has killed civilians also in Gaza. But there is an important difference here which is that, Israel tries to avoid killing civilians.”
After hearing Netanyahu, who was doing most of the talking, saying Hamas must be destroyed in a live online chat, Musk agreed.
“There’s no choice… I’d like to help as well.”
Musk’s trip comes on the fourth day of an ongoing truce between Israel and Hamas, during which Israel is recovering dozens of captives in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners.
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