Billionaire tech mogul and Trump administration efficiency czar Elon Musk takes aim at the Netanyahu corruption trial, defending the Israeli premier while accusing prosecutors of acting as part of the ‘deep state.’
By World Israel News Staff
Billionaire tech mogul and administrator of the federal Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk defended Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, criticizing the ongoing corruption trial of the Israeli leader.
On Monday night, Musk retweeted a link to a YouTube clip of a two-year-old documentary on the ongoing criminal trial against the prime minister, which combines three separate accusations, spanning Cases 1000, 2000, and 4000.
The clip was tweeted last week by Fox News host and conservative pundit Mark Levin, who captioned the link “The legal war against Netanyahu.”
Musk retweeted the link, adding, “The deep state is everywhere.”
The Netanyahu trial — which includes charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust over the prime minister’s alleged efforts to speed up already approved regulatory changes in exchange for favorable coverage by the Walla news site, plans to curtail the free distribution of a newspaper in exchange for positive coverage by a rival paper, and help businessmen in exchange for large gifts — was kicked off following the November 21, 2019, indictment of the prime minister.
While the trial began in May 2020, it has been repeatedly delayed due to the COVID pandemic, Israel’s political crisis from 2019 to 2022, and the war in Gaza.
Critics have accused prosecutors of attempting a putsch, arguing that there is no legal precedent for considering desirable coverage bribery, and dismissing claims of positive coverage by either outlet cited in the corruption investigations.
Musk, who met with Netanyahu earlier this month, was defended by Netanyahu from accusations of antisemitism in January, after some interpreted his hand gesture at a Trump inauguration event as a Nazi salute.
“Elon Musk is being falsely smeared,” Netanyahu tweeted.
“Elon is a great friend of Israel. He visited Israel after the October 7 massacre in which Hamas terrorists committed the worst atrocity against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
“He has since repeatedly and forcefully supported Israel’s right to defend itself against genocidal terrorists and regimes who seek to annihilate the one and only Jewish state.”