Elon Musk Allegedly Called Arabic the 'Language of the Enemy' Before Inking Starlink Deal With Saudi Arabia

Elon Musk is set to return to the U.S. from President Trump's four-day Middle East tour an even richer man after securing billion-dollar deals with key Arab Gulf States, despite once referring to Arabic as "the language of the enemy."

While traveling with Trump's convoy this week, the world's richest man met directly with some of the region's most powerful leaders, including Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and Qatar's Central Bank Governor Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al Thani.

The tech titan was also given a prime slot ahead of Trump and the Saudi Crown Prince's remarks at the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum on Tuesday. While conversing with Saudi Communications Minister Abdullah Alswaha, Musk spotlighted his many company's products. He pushed attendees to embrace The Boring Company's tunnels and platformed xAI.

It was revealed during the forum that Tesla's robotaxis will make their way to the region as well as Musk's Starlink satellites. He thanked the kingdom for approving a deal to deploy Starlink for aviation and maritime use, which is part of Saudi Arabia's broader $600 billion investment pledge to the U.S., CNN reported. The contract details remain undisclosed.

Also on Tuesday, Musk shared he secured $6 billion in state funding from Qatari officials toward xAI, which potentially pushes the company's valuation to $120 billion.

These financial gains across the region have significantly boosted Musk's profile and bottom line. But they come in stark contrast to a revelation from his 21-year-old daughter, Vivian Jenna Wilson. In August 2024, she stated in a Meta Thread that, as a child, her father told her Arabic was "the language of the enemy."

"You are not some 'bastion for equality/progress,'" Wilson wrote, per Huff Post. "You called arabic the 'language of the enemy' when I was 6, have been sued for discrimination multiple times, and are from Apartheid South Africa," Wilson continued.

Musk has been accused of demeaning Arabs in other instances since then. Earlier this year, while slashing federal contracts through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Musk reposted on X a fabricated statement about the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) donating more than $164 million to "terrorist-linked organizations," including American Near East Refugee Aid, the Arab American Institute, the Islamic Relief Agency, and the Palestine Children's Relief Fund.

America's largest Muslim civil rights organization, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), condemned Musk for spreading harmful rhetoric, labeling him a "hateful person."

"Anyone who sees the word 'Islam' in the name of an American charity and then immediately declares that the charity must be a 'terrorist organization' is a hateful person who must know next to nothing about American Muslims and their contributions to our society, including humanitarian work," the organization wrote in a statement shared on X at the time. "