Tesla’s market capitalisation has more than halved since hitting an all-time high of $1.5 trillion on 17 December [Getty]
The Israeli government has requested Tesla submit a bit on a tender to provide electric cars to top Israeli officials, according to a media report on Thursday.
An Israeli government source told Jewish News Service website that Tel Aviv was eyeing a fleet of the electronic vehicles, with the article later shared by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his account on X.
Musk, the owner of Tesla, has been embroiled in a series of political controversies in recent months and has formed a strong partnership with US President Donald Trump, which has seen a boycott of the e-car in Europe and elsewhere.
“We aren’t going to bow to woke trends,” the source told JNS regarding the government’s request for Tesla to submit their bid.
“Teslas are great cars, and we look forward to studying their bid,” JNS quoted the official as saying.
Musk, the world’s richest person, is spearheading President Donald Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which has frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in aid money for worldwide NGOs.
Tesla’s market capitalisation has more than halved since hitting an all-time high of $1.5 trillion on 17 December, erasing most of the gains the stock made after Musk-backed Trump won the US election in November.
Earlier this week, Trump said violence against Tesla dealerships will be labelled domestic terrorism and perpetrators will “go through hell”, in a show of support for the electric carmaker’s chief and his ally Musk.
It came after Trump appeared with Musk at the White House to select a new Tesla for his staff to use.
Netanyahu and his wife were given a tour by Musk of the Tesla factory in California in September 2023, where they were briefed on the company’s future projects.
According to JNS, the Israeli government wants all private cars in Israel by 2050 – projected to be around 6 million by then – to be electric.
Musk has been a widely controversial figure since taking on his government position, and Netanyahu – wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Gaza – has come to his defence.
At Trump’s January inauguration, he was berated after making a gesture many described as a Nazi salute.
On Friday, the billionaire retweeted a post by the Tesla Owners Silicon Valley defending him with the caption: “If Elon Musk is such a Nazi, why are the Top officials of Israel buying Teslas?” in reference to the JNS article.
A post that has been widely shared since Thursday alleges that Musk retweeted a post saying: “Stalin, Mao and Hitler didn’t murder millions of people. Their public sector workers did.”
The retweet could not be found on Musk’s page on X, which the billionaire also owns.
