Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invited billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk—CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and owner of the social-media platform X—to his July 24 address to Congress as his guest.
It followed the announcement earlier this week of a joint Israel-UAE partnership to support the use of SpaceX’s Starlink Internet service in a hospital in the Gaza Strip.
Others appearing in the visitor’s gallery box included Sara Netanyahu, wife of the Israeli premier; British conservative commentator Douglas Murray; soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces, including some with severe injuries; and Israeli Noa Argamani, a hostage by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7 from the Nova music festival in southern Israel and rescued from Gaza on June 8 by Israeli security forces.
She was accompanied by her father, Yaakov Argamani. Her mother, Liora Argamani, died on July 2 from brain cancer.
Family members of those still being held captive by terrorists in Gaza also attended.
Leaving the speech, reporters asked Musk about his hopes of engaging in a physical fight with fellow tech billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook/Meta. Musk replied that he would battle Zuckerberg “any place, any time, any rules.”