Technoloty News : SpaceX Starlink Internet to be available in Israel News
An Israeli official revealed Tuesday that Israel is in talks with SpaceX about deploying Starlink internet services to communities near conflict zones, particularly.
Starlink is not available in Israel at the moment, so this will be the first time that the service is offered. The same official stated that in order to boost its own communications, Israel is also looking at halting cell phone and internet communications within Gaza.
Israel’s Minister of Communications Shlomo Karthi said on X that “the coordination of the Israeli company Starlink, enabling the company SpaceX to operate communication terminals, will enable a wide-bandwidth internet connection in Israel.” “Under the minister’s guidance, the ministry also promotes the purchase these satellite devices to the benefit of regional councils in conflict zone settlements.”
Karhi’s announcement comes just a week after Hamas led a brutal attack on Israel, which killed more than 1400 people, mainly civilian Israelis. This attack was followed by days worth of retaliatory strikes in Gaza that killed over 2,800 Palestinians, mostly civilians.
The war is not likely to end anytime soon. It was only after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 that it became apparent that satellite-based internet can be a crucial advantage during conflict. Ukrainian forces relied on Starlink for communications.
Starlink’s role in conflict is still far from clear. Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, refused to activate Starlink when Ukraine requested the service prior to a planned assault on Russia’s Navy. Elon Musk later claimed that he had never authorized the service to be used and that, “If I agreed to their request then SpaceX would have been explicitly complicit in an act of war and conflict escalatement.”
It is not clear when the service will be available or how many users there will initially be. TechCrunch contacted the Israeli government to find out more and will update this story if they respond. It’s not clear if these terminals will be purchased directly by SpaceX or through its Starshield business unit, which is a defense-focused division.
