(September 18, 2023 / JNS) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in California early Monday for a meeting in Silicon Valley with X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk.
Speaking to reporters on the tarmac at Ben-Gurion Airport before to his departure for San Jose on Sunday, Netanyahu said that he will meet “the current leader of the most dramatic development in the new age and perhaps in general, Elon Musk.”
“I will discuss artificial intelligence with him and I will also work toward encouraging him to invest in Israel in the coming years. He is, to a large degree, paving the way that will change the face of humanity and also the face of the State of Israel,” said Netanyahu. “Israel needs to be a leader in artificial intelligence. Just as we turned it into a leader in cyber, so we will do in this field as well.”
Following a private meeting, Netanyahu and Musk are scheduled to hold a live conversation on the X social media platform at 9:15 a.m. California time.
The visit is Netanyahu’s first trip to the United States since being voted back into office on Nov. 1, 2022.
After spending the day in Silicon Valley, the prime minister will travel to New York City, arriving there on Sept. 19.
In the Big Apple, Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly general debate on Wednesday before addressing the opening session of the 78th General Assembly on Friday.
While in New York, Netanyahu is also expected to meet with other world leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Schulz, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, South Korean President Yoon Seok Yeol and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Netanyahu will remain in New York over Shabbat, flying back shortly before the start of Yom Kippur on the evening of Sept. 24.
Protest leaders said they plan to hound Netanyahu during his entire seven-day U.S. visit.
On Sunday, protesters from the UnXeptable movement projected an image of Netanyahu behind bars onto the abandoned prison on Alcatraz Island offshore from San Francisco. The image read: “Welcome to Alcatraz Bibi!”