The world's media and the mainstream Israeli media (which has a complicated and disastrous relationship with the rest of the world) just executed a demolition hit job on Elon Musk's reputation in Israel.
The Start
It started (as it always does) with a post on X:
Elon's 1st post
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1718207646958809509
- elonmusk
"ComStar Interdict" It's not really clear what that means but it did come after the reports of the first almost complete blockage of Internet services in Gaza on October 27th:
https://twitter.com/netblocks/status/1717942556703551590
- netblocks
Elon's 2nd post (reply to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez)
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1718224153474388433
- elonmusk
This second tweet was the causus belli the media were looking for.
Suddenly this sounds like StarLink will suddenly, spontaneously "work" in Gaza and break the Israeli blockade. No mention of the fact that clearly, for years, Israel has provided Internet service to Gaza which was apparently under strict blockade for years. How does that work?
StarLink technical bit
I actually know a bit about Starlink. Last summer I helped sail from the south of France to Italy around the shore of the Mediterranean. Shortly before we left France we were able to get a subscription to StarLink and the highly unique equipment necessary to talk to the 4000+ satellites which orbit the earth.
That little dish, which moves around on its own connects to satellites which fly by crossing the entire sky in a few minutes. There are always a few of them in the sky above and this astonishingly compact equipment connects to new satellites every minute to keep a solid connection.
The system was amazing, working flawlessly and at very high speeds as we sailed and while at anchor.
But the one thing you can't do, is use Starlink without this dish.
StarLink in Israel and Gaza
Whilst there is no technical reason Starlink doesn't work in Israel right now from the point of view of orbital physics, there are a number of reasons why you can't use StarLink anywhere in Israel or Gaza.
Starlink is not licensed for use here and that's a matter of a commercial negotiation between the Israeli telecoms authorities and Starlink. Most countries are protective of their communications systems and the arrival of Starlink from the sky immediately causes huge disruption amongst incumbent telecom companies which will suddenly face stiff competition.
Starlink has spent billions on their infrastructure in the sky (and on land) but the cost to Starlink of adding a new country is very low. This is in competition with ground based systems which have spent billions on fiber in the ground or cell towers. Starlink can expand worldwide, an Israeli phone company is stuff in Israel.
Palestinian phone systems
The biggest player in the Palestinian Telecoms world is Paltel. As with anything in the control of the Palestinians, it is a vast empire of graft and corruption. It is a huge money spinner. The Arabs have long complained that it under invests and they still have to suffer the indignity and humiliation of 3G services when Israelis get 5G. Across Judea and Samaria (the west bank of the Jordan river) they get to use towers built by Israeli telecoms companies.
This corrupt corporation has more to lose from Starlink than any company here in Israel (where we actually have pretty good and relatively cheap cellphone and home internet services).
I have no idea what negotiations have gone on, but I would completely understand Paltel not wanting competition from space.
Elon's 3rd post
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1718376814769258956?s=20
- elonmusk
This time he is replying to Shlomo Karhi, Israel's Minster of Communications.
As Elon points out, no terminals exist in Gaza (perhaps there are some being tested in Israel but nothing that I know of) and even if such terminals were in Gaza, Starlink can decide whether they work or not.
I'll also point out another thing: if terrorists do want to use Starlink, they'll be transmitting their position straight to the IDF and it is child's play to find any operating Starlink equipment with or without a phone call to the company itself.
The last word?
https://twitter.com/DrEliDavid/status/1718728538113683536
- DrEliDavid
So we get to this unequivocal statement following a call between Elon and the head of the Shin Bet (Israel's internal security services)
- He fully supports Israel in its war against terrorism
- No Starlink will be given to Gaza without Israel security approval
Thank you Elon Musk for standing with Israel 🇮🇱
Media outrage
And then White House does this:
https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1718759564160479396
- WhiteHouse
Did the White House order Israel to turn the internet back on or did we decide to do it for operational reasons?
Who knows.
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