Earlier in the year, billionaire and tech magnate Elon Musk took heat for the prominent role he played in the war between Russia and Ukraine. In his position as the CEO of SpaceX, the private company that operates Starlink, a satellite internet constellation that the Ukrainian government was granted access to shortly after the initial invasion, Musk was able to partially influence the Ukrainian military's offensives.
In 2022, Musk received an emergency request from the Ukrainian government to enable a Starlink internet connection up to Sevastopol in Crimea, in an apparent effort to enable a strike against a Russian naval fleet. Musk, afraid of possible nuclear escalation, declined to grant the request.
"If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation," Musk said.
Related: Why Elon Musk Was Able to Exert Control in Ukraine War
The New York Times reported in July that government officials remain concerned about Musk's role in the war.
“How am I in this war? Starlink was not meant to be involved in wars," Musk told biographer Walter Isaacson. "It was so people can watch Netflix and chill and get online for school and do good peaceful things, not drone strikes.”
Just a few weeks into the outbreak and continued escalation of violence in the Middle East between Palestinian terrorist group Hamas and Israel, Musk has found himself in a similar situation.
Following an internet blackout in Gaza on Saturday, Musk wrote in a post on X that Starlink will "support connectivity to internationally recognized aid organizations in Gaza."
He reiterated this point several times, saying that, as of Saturday, "no terminal has requested a connection in the area."
Israel's communication minister Shlomo Karhi, responding to Musk, said that "Israel will use all means at its disposal to fight this." Karhi said that HAMAS will take advantage of any Starlink connections for "terrorist activities. There is no doubt about it, we know it and Musk knows it."
Karhi suggested that Musk should consider making Starlink access conditional to the release of abducted Israeli citizens.
We are not so naive.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2023
Per my post, no Starlink terminal has attempted to connect from Gaza.
If one does, we will take extraordinary measures to confirm that it is used *only* for purely humanitarian reasons.
Moreover, we will do a security check with both the US and Israeli…
Even with widespread approval, getting the hardware necessary to create a Starlink uplink into Gaza would remain a challenge.
Musk, responding to Karhi, reiterated the fact that, as yet, no Starlink terminal has requested access. If SpaceX does see a request for Starlink access, Musk said, "we will take extraordinary measures to confirm that it is used only for purely humanitarian reasons."
"We are not so naive," Musk wrote.
Related: Elon Musk sheds new light on controversial decision he was criticized for
These measures, he said, will include a security check with both the U.S. and Israeli governments before SpaceX will activate "even a single terminal."
He did not further explain the details of SpaceX's so-called "extraordinary" verification measures. SpaceX did not immediately respond to TheStreet's request for greater details on this specific point.
In a separate post, Musk admitted to feeling global pressure to provide Starlink support for Gaza as he struggles with figuring out the best way to approach the problem.
"Ever since he was a scrawny and socially awkward kid getting beaten up on his school playground in South Africa, Elon Musk has liked to imagine himself as a hero rushing to the rescue, engaged in epic quests," Isaacson wrote in his recent biography of Musk.
"The war in Ukraine, when no other company or even country could manage to keep communications satellites working, gave him a center-stage opportunity to show his humanitarian instincts while playing superhero."
Get investment guidance from trusted portfolio managers without the management fees. Sign up for Action Alerts PLUS now.
