A Silicon Valley VC Says He Got the IDF Starlink Access Within Days of October 7 Attack
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Summary
In the aftermath of the attack by Hamas on Israel on 7 October 2023, venture capitalist Shaun Maguire reportedly secured Starlink access for the Israel Defence Forces from Elon Musk’s SpaceX within hours or days of the military action, despite neither Israel, Musk, or SpaceX having publicly acknowledged this.
Aviv Eyal, managing partner of venture capital firm Entrée Capital, first raised the topic on a webinar last week, saying that Maguire had introduced him to the head of country licensing at Starlink, though Eyal did not give a date for when this introduction took place.
In late October, Musk negotiated with the Israeli Communications Ministry the provision of Starlink access in the area, though Israel did not approve any use of Starlink in the country until 14 February this year.
Starlink is due to be launched for Israel as a whole “in a matter of weeks”, according to Eyal.
Between 53,000 and 62,000 Palestinians are estimated to have died as a result of Israel’s military offensive that followed Hamas’s attack, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health and Government Media Office, though the exact figure is unknown.
