Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk told Israel’s ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, on Monday that there was no choice but to “kill those who insist on murdering civilians,” to educate Palestinian children not to hate, and to bring prosperity to Gaza.
Musk spoke at the end of a trip in which he visited the devastated community of Kfar Aza, in which 100 Israeli civilians were murdered by Hamas on October 7, and 18 kidnapped — notably, a mother with an infant and four-year-old, who remain hostages.
The Twitter / X owner also met the families of hostages, who spoke to him about the need to pressure the U.S. and other governments to ensure their safe release.
Musk then shared some of his conclusions from the day (transcript via Israel’s GPO):
It was certainly an emotionally difficult day, to see the places where people were murdered. And also to watch the video where the murderers are rejoicing. Celebrating the murder of innocent people is extremely disturbing. So we have to do whatever is necessary to stop the hate. Essentially these people have been fed propaganda since they were children. And it’s remarkable what humans are capable of if they’re fed falsehoods, from when they are children, they will think that the murder of innocent people is a good thing. That is how much propaganda can affect people’s minds. So you know, I actually did talk with the Prime Minister. And I think there’s three things that need to happen in the Gaza situation, there’s no choice but to kill those who insist on murdering civilians. You are going to change their mind. But the second thing is to change the education so the new generation of murderers is not trained to be murderers. And the third thing, which is also very important is to try to build prosperity.
President Herzog brought up the issue of antisemitism on X, and urged Musk to fight it.
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.