Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday he discussed ongoing collaboration with Tesla and legislation for autonomous vehicles during a conference call with CEO Elon Musk.
“Additionally, we discussed the continuation of collaborations with Tesla and the promotion of the law pertaining to autonomous vehicles,” Netanyahu wrote on X Monday.
“I spoke at length with Musk about promoting and developing artificial intelligence technologies in Israel,” the country’s Prime Minister added without revealing any details.
Netanyahu held the call from Florida with Musk, Transportation Minister Miri Regev, and Head of the National AI Directorate Erez Eskel.
“We intend to catapult Israel and turn it into a global leader in the field, just as we did in cyber and other technologies,” Netanyahu wrote.
Smart Transportation Conference
Musk accepted an invitation from Netanyahu and Regev to participate in a Smart Transportation Conference to be held in Israel in March.
“In the framework of the conversation, Musk responded to my invitation and Minister Regev’s invitation to participate in the Smart Transportation Conference that will be held in March,” Netanyahu wrote.
The Government Press Office confirmed the acceptance, adding that “the Prime Minister and Musk spoke at length about the advancement and development of AI technologies in Israel.”
Netanyahu is currently in Florida, where he also met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday.
“I had a great meeting in Florida with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio,” Netanyahu wrote on X.
Long-Standing Relationship
The call is the latest chapter in a relationship between Netanyahu and Musk that has deepened over the past two years.
In September 2023, Netanyahu and his wife Sara toured Tesla‘s factory in Fremont, California, where they rode in a Cybertruck before the vehicle’s public release. During the visit, Netanyahu and Musk held a lengthy panel discussion on the ethics of artificial intelligence.
Last year, Musk attended Netanyahu’s July 24 address to a joint session of the US Congress at the personal invitation of the prime minister.
In March 2025, Netanyahu shared an article reporting that Israel had asked Tesla to bid on a tender for top officials’ vehicles. The post showed the Israeli prime minister and his wife standing with Musk in front of a Tesla Cybertruck.
“Much appreciated,” Musk replied to the post, which received over 40 million views.
Two months earlier, in January, Netanyahu publicly defended Musk on X shortly after Donald Trump’s inauguration.
“@elonmusk is being falsely smeared. Elon is a great friend of Israel. He visited Israel after the October 7 massacre in which Hamas terrorists committed the worst atrocity against the Jewish people since the Holocaust. He has since repeatedly and forcefully supported Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas terrorists and other Iranian-backed terror proxies who seek to destroy the Jewish state,” Netanyahu wrote.
“Thank you,” Musk replied to the post, which received over 64 million views.
