JERUSALEM — A former Israeli prime minister has openly confirmed that Israel smuggled Starlink satellite internet receivers into Iran in an effort to support protesters seeking to overthrow the Iranian government.
Naftali Bennett, who served as Israel’s prime minister from 2021 to 2022, made the admission Tuesday while speaking before an audience at the JNS International Policy Summit in Jerusalem. He said he personally launched “a process of acquiring and smuggling into Iran tens of thousands of Starlink receptors that would allow continuity of the internet and social networks.”
Starlink is a satellite-based internet service operated by SpaceX, which is owned by Elon Musk. Iran has previously pointed the finger at both Israel and the United States, accusing them of bringing the devices into the country to destabilize its government. While Starlink is not authorized to operate in Iran, Musk has previously stated that the service is functioning there.
According to Bennett, the goal of distributing the devices was to give protesters the tools to organize and ultimately bring down the Iranian government.
However, Bennett placed blame on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration for failing to continue the program. “Unfortunately, the current incompetent Israeli government stopped doing that,” Bennett said. “And when the protest happened, that infrastructure was not there.”
Netanyahu’s office did not respond to requests for comment on Bennett’s statements, and SpaceX was unavailable for comment outside of U.S. business hours.
Iranian authorities have repeatedly cut off public internet access during periods of civil unrest, including during deadly nationwide protests in January and throughout the conflict involving the U.S. and Israel that began in late February. Reuters has previously reported that some Iranians relied on Starlink during those internet shutdowns.
Bennett, who heads a right-wing political party and is among several opposition figures hoping to unseat Netanyahu ahead of an election scheduled by October, said that if he were to return to power, he would pursue efforts to destabilize and ultimately topple the Iranian government. He indicated those efforts could include economic and industrial sabotage rather than direct military action.
