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Netanyahu likes to speak for Jews — but he doesn’t stand up for them

Bibi is sacrificing the Jewish community to serve his own interests

September 28, 2023 11:14
Orban
4 min read

Since the very beginning, some 75 years ago, an unspoken bargain has existed between the state of Israel and the Jews of the diaspora. Communities in New York, Buenos Aires or London would stand with Israel against its enemies, and Israel would do the same for them. At least that was the mutually understood pact between leaders on both sides. Now, however, that pact has been destroyed, torn up by Benjamin Netanyahu — even if diaspora leaders are yet to absorb that it’s happened.

Fresh evidence came from Netanyahu’s trip last week to the US. Denied a White House meeting with the most powerful man in the world, Joe Biden, the Israeli prime minister travelled instead to San Francisco for a summit with the richest: Elon Musk.

Netanyahu’s motive was clear enough. As Anshel Pfeffer explained on these pages, the prime minister is keen to project Israel as a world centre for artificial intelligence and Musk is a leader in that field. What’s more, a Silicon Valley photo-op neatly counters the narrative of Netanyahu at odds with Israel’s tech folk, many of whom have joined the protests against his government and its plan to gut the judiciary.

As for why Musk wanted to meet Bibi, that was even less mysterious. In recent weeks, Musk has been in a battle with the Anti-Defamation League, the organisation that leads the American Jewish fight against antisemitism. On X, the beleaguered social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that he owns, Musk said that the ADL “seems to be responsible for most of our revenue loss”. He accused the body of “secret censorship” and of “trying to kill this platform.”