Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Elon Musk, the owner of X, the social media platform formerly called Twitter, have both faced intense scrutiny and criticism for most of the year.
Mr. Netanyahu has been the target of a nine-month wave of mass protests against his deeply contentious effort to reduce the power of Israel’s Supreme Court. Mr. Musk has been accused, among other things, of tolerating and even encouraging a surge of antisemitic abuse on X.
On Monday morning, the two men sought to find a respite from those furors — in each other’s company.
Mr. Netanyahu, beginning a weeklong trip to the United States, took a 15-hour overnight flight to California, where the men met at a factory for Tesla, Mr. Musk’s electric car company, and broadcast an unusual, hourlong conversation live on X that allowed them to deflect from their respective crises.
The discussion was jocular, if disjointed. At some points the two men were expressing mutual admiration, at others they were delving into the perils and opportunities of artificial intelligence.
The conversation also allowed Mr. Musk to defend against accusations of antisemitism, and Mr. Netanyahu to give a positive spin to his judicial overhaul, which critics say has undermined Israel’s democracy by reducing oversight over the government.
“Balance between the three branches of government — that’s what I’m trying to achieve, nothing more,” Mr. Netanyahu said. Turning to Mr. Musk, he added, “It’s not an easy thing to be maligned — I know you’ve never seen that, right?”
“Me, maligned?” Mr. Musk said, laughing. “Never.”
For Mr. Netanyahu, an encounter with the world’s richest man — partly to promote tech investment in Israel — allowed him to dismiss claims that his judicial overhaul had put off investors and harmed Israel’s start-up ecosystem.
“I have helped reform the Israeli economy from a semi-socialist economy to one of the most vibrant, free-market economies,” Mr. Netanyahu said.
For Mr. Musk, the meeting with the leader of the world’s only Jewish state gave him a chance to deflect a barrage of criticism from American Jews who say he has allowed X to become a vessel for antisemitic hatred.
“Obviously I’m against antisemitism — I’m against anti-anything,” Mr. Musk said. “And I’m in favor of that which helps uphold society and takes us to a better future for humanity.”
Still, the Israeli prime minister did use the opportunity to press the X owner on the matter of hate posts.
“I hope you can find, within the confines of the First Amendment, the ability to not only stop antisemitism as best you can, but any collective hatred of the people that antisemitism represents,” Mr. Netanyahu said,
Afterward, Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, expressed appreciation to Mr. Netanyahu for raising the issue.
“We hope that Mr. Musk takes Prime Minister Netanyahu’s concerns seriously so that X/Twitter can become a safer and more welcome place for all,” he said.
At the venue where the men met, the subdued audience — composed mainly of senior Israeli officials — was twice chastised by Mr. Musk for failing to laugh at his jokes. “Bit of a dry house we’ve got here,” he said.
The response from outside the get-together was more critical: Mr. Netanyahu was accused of providing Mr. Musk with political cover at a time of rising antisemitism on his platform.
Antisemitic posts on X, then known as Twitter, rose by more than 100 percent in the months after Mr. Musk purchased it in October 2022, according to joint research by two British groups.
Mr. Musk has also set off alarms by threatening to sue the Anti-Defamation League, the rights group that has highlighted the rise in antisemitism on X, and attacking George Soros, a frequent target of antisemitic abuse.
Mr. Netanyahu’s decision to meet Mr. Musk served “at the very least to legitimize inaction,” Yizhar Hess, a vice chairman of the World Zionist Organization, a nongovernmental group, said in a statement.
“Choosing to pal around with Elon Musk at a time when antisemitism runs rampant on X not only sends the wrong message to Jews around the world, but puts them at risk,” Mr. Hess said.
The meeting was arranged at Mr. Musk’s suggestion and followed several calls in recent weeks between the two men, according to Mr. Netanyahu’s office.
Mr. Netanyahu was scheduled to leave on Monday evening on another overnight flight, to New York, where he is set to meet President Biden and make a speech to the United Nations General Assembly later in the week.
His visit to the United States comes against a backdrop of unrest in Israel over Mr. Netanyahu’s effort to weaken the judiciary.
Mr. Netanyahu says his goal is to strengthen…
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