Elon Musk Takes Israeli PM For A Ride In Futuristic Tesla Cybertruck

Elon Musk gave Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a test drive of his highly anticipated and yet-to-be-launched Tesla Cybertruck on Monday.

The two were on a tour of one of the Tesla factories in Fremont, California, when Musk decided to let Netanyahu and his wife take a ride in the vehicle.

The Prime Minister of Israel's X account shared videos and images from his factory tour. "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara toured the @Tesla Motors plant in Fremont, California, together with Tesla CEO, entrepreneur @ElonMusk," read the tweet.

"The Prime Minister and his wife were briefed by Elon Musk on company developments and various models and observed the production and assembly line for advanced electric vehicles," read another tweet.

The truck was unveiled in 2019 and is set to go on sale this year. It will have 500 miles (around 800 km) of range on a single charge and will cost $39,900 for the base model.

The electric pickup truck will come in three versions with 250, 300, and 500-mile ranges. The company has opened up pre-orders for the vehicle. Tesla CEO Musk has marketed his pickup truck as more rugged than the ones on the market—the truck will be able to tolerate sledgehammers and even bullets.

With the Cybertruck, Musk is venturing into the most preferred vehicle category in the US, with high profit margins, which can boost Tesla's overall growth.

The big picture:

The Israeli prime minister is in the United States for the UN General Assembly session. He met Musk on the sidelines of the meeting. He had a discussion with the Tesla founder on multiple issues, including hate speech and AI, before they left for the factory tour.

The meeting was broadcast live on Monday afternoon and saw the two men discussing various issues. During the meeting, Netanyahu urged Musk to "roll back" antisemitism on the platform.

"I know your commitment to free speech. But I also know your opposition to antisemitism. You've spoken about it, and tweeted about it. And all I can say is, I hope you find, within the confines of the First Amendment, the ability to stop not only antisemitism, or roll it back as best you can, but any collective hatred of people...,"said Netanyahu.

"I know you're committed to that and I hope you succeed. And it's not an easy task, but I encourage you and urge you to find a balance," added the Israeli leader.

Netanyahu's appeal came after several reports claimed that X has seen a significant rise in hate speech since Musk's takeover. He also held a meeting with US President Joe Biden on Wednesday, wherein the two leaders pledged to improve relations between the two nations.

"Even when we have our differences, my commitment to Israel is ironclad," Biden said at the start of the meeting, adding that the US will ensure "that Iran never, never secures a nuclear weapon".

The bilateral meeting was organised on the sidelines of the 78th U.N. General Assembly in New York City.