And yet on Monday, Musk was in Israel being welcomed by the nation's political elite — including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — to visit the region where the Islamic militant group Hamas murdered 1,200 people on Oct. 7.

For all of Musk's stumbles, world leaders can't afford to criticize or alienate him for long: The world's richest person holds the keys to powerful technological tools. In this case, Starlink, his satellite internet provider, is at the heart of his political clout. Starlink, which is owned and operated by Musk's rocket company SpaceX, formally named Space Exploration Technologies Corp., has provided him with the ability to woo world leaders from Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to officials at the Pentagon, by offering essential communications services.