Tesla CEO and Twitter/X owner Elon Musk hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a live-streamed discussion about Alternative Intelligence (AI) — and many other topics — at Tesla’s Fremont, California, factory.
Netanyahu has long enjoyed warm receptions in Silicon Valley, dating back a decade to the administration of Gov. Jerry Brown (D) and before. The reason: as Netanyahu noted (via the New York Times): “I have helped reform the Israeli economy from a semi-socialist economy to one of the most vibrant, free-market economies,” he said.
This time, Netanyahu faced protests — not because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but because of internal controversies in Israel over judicial reform, which some Israelis working abroad in Silicon Valley also oppose.
Netanyahu offered some self-criticism, opining that his government’s original proposals for judicial reform — which included the possibility of the legislature overriding Supreme Court decisions by majority vote — went to far. He added, however, that he still wants reforms to judicial selection, preferably though a deal with opposition parties.
The Israeli Prime Minister also challenged Musk over the problem of antisemitic content on his social media platform, urging Musk to do whatever he could, within the limits of the First Amendment, to address the issue.
Netanyahu is in the U.S. to address the United Nations General Assembly later this week, where he will also meet with President Joe Biden — a downgrade from the White House visit traditionally accorded to Israeli leaders.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.