Starlink for Gaza – Elon Musk takes on Israel
Entrepreneur Elon Musk: The founder of Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink wants to provide Gaza with internet
Source: AFP/ALAIN JOCARD
Entrepreneur Elon Musk has offered his Starlink satellite service for use in the Gaza Strip, thereby snubbing Israel. The communications minister fears that Hamas could exploit the system. Musk rejected a clever compromise proposal from the minister.
EFirst Ukraine, now the Middle East: Elon Musk has gotten involved in a war again. The billionaire and entrepreneur announced that he would provide telecommunications in the Gaza Strip through his provider Starlink. The connections should be made available to internationally recognized aid organizations, Musk wrote on Saturday on the X network, formerly Twitter, which he also owns.
On Saturday night, the Palestinian telecommunications company Paltel announced that, among other things, the Internet and mobile communications in the Gaza Strip had collapsed due to Israeli air strikes. UN organizations such as the World Food Program, the children’s fund Unicef and the World Health Organization said they had lost contact with their employees.
Musk’s pledge responded to a call from US politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on X. “It is unacceptable to cut off a population of 2.2 million from communications,” she wrote. “Journalists, medical professionals, humanitarian workers and innocent people are all at risk.” The United States has denounced this practice in the past, said Ocasio-Cortez.
Ocasio-Cortez belongs to the left wing of the Democrats and is a member of the US House of Representatives. After the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th, the Democratic Socialists of America, which includes Ocasio-Cortez, called for a pro-Palestinian demonstration in New York.
At the demonstration, participants displayed a swastika and burned an Israel flag. Ocasio-Cortez later condemned the demonstration. But the fact that Musk responded so openly to a demand from the pro-Palestinian camp may have further angered Jerusalem.
Israel proposes hostage rescue in exchange for Starlink
Accordingly, Israel reacted with outrage to Musk’s announcement that he would offer telecommunications in the Gaza Strip. “Israel will use all available means to combat this,” Telecommunications Minister Shlomo Karhi wrote on X. He expressed fears that Hamas could use the satellite link for terrorist activities. “There is no doubt about it, we know it and Musk knows it too. Hamas is ISIS,” it continued.
However, Karhi made Musk an offer: Musk could make the release of all Israeli hostages a condition of deploying Starlink in Gaza. “Until then, my office will cut all ties to Starlink,” the minister wrote.
The entrepreneur responded immediately, but without responding to the suggestion. So far there has been no attempt to establish an internet connection via a Starlink terminal in Gaza. Musk announced that he would take measures to ensure that the terminals would only be used for purely humanitarian purposes. “In addition, we will conduct a security review with the US and Israeli governments before turning on a single terminal,” Musk wrote. According to the entrepreneur, it is not yet clear who will be responsible for ground communications in the Gaza Strip.
Musk’s Starlink satellite service already plays an important role in Ukraine’s defense, as the system allows data exchange in near real time. Musk also provided Starlink for the demonstrators in Iran. The service, launched in 2020, operates a network of around 5,000 satellites that is intended to provide Internet access in areas that are not connected to the global network by cable.