Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
Israel has invited Tesla to submit a bid in a government tender for electric vehicles intended for senior officials, Israeli media outlet JNS reported on Thursday, citing a senior government source.
“We aren’t going to bow to woke trends,” the official told JNS. “A car is a car is a car. And a great car is a great car is a great car. Teslas are great cars, and we look forward to studying their bid,” the official said.
The request comes on the same week that U.S. President Donald Trump praised Tesla and its vehicles at the White House where took delivery of a Model S vehicle.
In January, Tesla CEO Elon Musk faced controversy over a gesture critics likened to a Nazi salute during a U.S. presidential inauguration event.
Back then, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended Musk. On X, the social media platform owned by Musk, the Israeli Prime Minister said Tesla’s chief was “being falsely smeared.”
“Elon is a great friend of Israel,” Netanyahu wrote, noting that Musk visited the country after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and has “repeatedly and forcefully supported Israel’s right to defend itself.”
Tesla’s chief executive said earlier this week that the company plans to double vehicle production in the United States within the next two years as it plans to start production of a new, cheaper model later this year followed by the robotaxi model, the Cybercab.
