Elon Musk tells Netanyahu he wants to help rebuild Gaza after war

[Uncle Joe]

Elon Musk told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday that he wants to help rebuild Gaza after the end of the Israel-Hamas war.

Why it matters: Musk is in Israel to meet with officials and see sites that Hamas targeted in its Oct. 7 attack. The trip comes as he faces fallout for backing an antisemitic post on X earlier this month, resulting in an exodus of major advertisers.

"We have to demilitarize Gaza after the destruction of Hamas, and we have to deradicalize Gaza ... and then we have to also rebuild Gaza," Netanyahu said in a live chat with Musk on X.

"I'd like to help as well," Musk said, before mentioning the importance of rebuilding Japan and Germany after WWII.

(snip)

https://www.axios.com/2023/11/27/elon-musk-visit-israel-netanyahu-hamas-attack



______________________________________________________________

Now back in happier times, just before last Christmas, Musk became close to Jared Kushner.



Musk and Kushner spotted at World Cup final

12/18/22

Twitter CEO Elon Musk and former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner were spotted enjoying the 2022 FIFA World Cup final on Sunday at Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar.

(snip)

Kushner was seen standing next to Musk at the game. The former White House adviser, who is married to former President Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, was seen at other World Cup matches as well, including the United States’ World Cup match against England with the Trump family.

Earlier this month, House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked the State and Defense departments for various records on Kushner’s family business. The lawmakers raised concerns about his financial interests as he influenced the Trump administration’s foreign policy in the Persian Gulf.

(snip)

https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/3779845-musk-and-kushner-spotted-at-world-cup-final/



I imagine Kushner was in still in a good mood over his close friend Saudi Prince MBS having shelled out 2 billion dollars for his fledgling company.



Before Giving Billions to Jared Kushner, Saudi Investment Fund Had Big Doubts

Six months after leaving the White House, Jared Kushner secured a $2 billion investment from a fund led by the Saudi crown prince, a close ally during the Trump administration, despite objections from the fund’s advisers about the merits of the deal.

A panel that screens investments for the main Saudi sovereign wealth fund cited concerns about the proposed deal with Mr. Kushner’s newly formed private equity firm, Affinity Partners, previously undisclosed documents show.

Those objections included: “the inexperience of the Affinity Fund management”; the possibility that the kingdom would be responsible for “the bulk of the investment and risk”; due diligence on the fledgling firm’s operations that found them “unsatisfactory in all aspects”; a proposed asset management fee that “seems excessive”; and “public relations risks” from Mr. Kushner’s prior role as a senior adviser to his father-in-law, former President Donald J. Trump, according to minutes of the panel’s meeting last June 30.

But days later the full board of the $620 billion Public Investment Fund — led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler and a beneficiary of Mr. Kushner’s support when he worked as a White House adviser — overruled the panel.

(snip)

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/10/us/jared-kushner-saudi-investment-fund.html



Oct 2, 2023

MBS has won over Washington

Washington and world capitals are abuzz about the idea of the kingdom establishing diplomatic relations with the State of Israel.

The Saudi side appears to need concessions from the US to make that happen, and those inducements appear to be more of a priority for Riyadh than securing any protections for Palestinians.

US officials are briefing journalists about variations of a security guarantee and a civilian nuclear program that would allow Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium. They have floated a defense accord that could be similar to arrangements the US has with South Korea or Japan, or by designating Saudi Arabia a major non-NATO ally.

(snip)

And while not everyone is giving MBS that kind of platform, other American institutions are engaging with Saudi Arabia. For a short while after Khashoggi’s murder, US institutions avoided the public shame associated with the acceptance of Saudi money, but those days are gone. The MBS information campaign for rehabilitation post-Khashoggi extends to influential think tanks that depend on Gulf funding, though researchers and experts testifying to Congress sometimes don’t disclose it. Former US military leaders earn lucrative contracts from the kingdom. Even media organizations benefit, which may explain why Vice buried a critical documentary on Saudi Arabia. (The money is so ubiquitous that even Vox is touched by it. Penske Media Corporation received in 2018 a $200 million investment from the Saudi Research and Media Group, which is closely linked to MBS. Penske became a minority shareholder in Vox Media, this site’s parent company, earlier this year.)

(snip)

https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2023/10/2/23899859/jamal-khashoggi-murder-death-saudi-arabia-mbs-biden-five-years-later



Khashoggi was writing about democratic reforms in Saudi Arabia when he was murdered.



(snip)

After Khashoggi started writing for The Washington Post, he was harassed via Twitter from pro-regime trolls and bot accounts.[23] It is believed that his harassment was instigated by Saudi royal adviser Saud al-Qahtani, who had been tasked by Prince bin Salman with implementing a zero-tolerance crackdown on dissent on social media. Qahtani was later implicated in Khashoggi's murder.[25][26]

Just before he was murdered, Khashoggi launched several projects to consolidate opposition to the Saudi regime, counter regime propaganda, and press for reform. One major collaborator was Saudi dissident blogger Omar Abdulaziz, one of the most visible public critics of the Saudi regime abroad.[27] In late September 2018, Khashoggi met with friends in London to discuss his various plans.[28] Khashoggi wrote in his last column, posthumously published, that "what the Arab world needs most is free expression".[29][30]

(snip)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Jamal_Khashoggi#:~:text=Just%20before%20he%20was%20murdered,of%20the%20Saudi%20regime%20abroad.



These are the people that want to rebuild Gaza, minus Khashoggi.

[Walleye]

1. I keep remembering that the Kushners are old family friends with Netanyahu

[Irish_Dem]

2. The oligarchs make money destroying things, and make more money building it back.

Nice system.

[moniss]

3. Yes they make it on all sides of

any matter by way of their control of the means for destruction and rebuilding as you point out. It reminds me of a town I knew in my youth where one man, who was the perennial mayor, also owned the only grocery store, ambulance service and funeral home. He was going to profit from you all through life and on your way out.

[Irish_Dem]

6. Yep. It is a good business plan.

Make money on all sides of an issue.

And sell people the food that kills them and make money on the ambulance and funeral.

[CanonRay]

4. He'll want to rename the country X

[EarnestPutz]

5. In no way can the Middle Eastern clusterfuck be made any better by adding Elon Musk to the equation.

[scarletlib]

7. He also promised to rebuild and solarize Puerto Rico's electrical grid after Hurricane Maria. No follow through by him..

If I were Gazan I would not place my hopes on him.