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Elon Musk has come under fire for agreeing to a controversial tweet that is widely being deemed as antisemitic by social media users.
On November 16, a Conservative Jewish X user Charles Weber shared a video of an ad that was created as part of the #StandUpToJewishHate campaign by the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism in March 2023. In the video, a father drives his son to a synagogue and confronts him about his antisemitic post that said,
“Hitler was right.”
The father, seemingly disappointed, tells the son that he did not teach him to say such things, and chastises him for hiding behind the screen and spewing hatred. The father then points at the people coming out of the synagogue and challenges his son to say whatever he wants to say about Jews, directly to those people. His son appears to realize his fault and looks guilty and apologetic.
However, under Charles Weber’s tweet, another user @breakingbaht accused Jewish communities of pushing the exact kind of hatred towards “whites” that they ask others to refrain from using against Jews. To everyone’s surprise, Elon Musk replied to @breakingbaht’s tweet and wrote:
“You have said the actual truth.”
Elon Musk faces calls to resign after agreeing to supposed antisemitic tweet
In a follow-up tweet, Elon Musk further referred to the international Jewish NGO Anti-Defamation League aka ADL, and said that despite the majority of the Western population supporting Israel and Jewish people, the organization "unjustly" attacks them. He added:
"This is because they cannot, by their own tenets, criticize the minority groups who are their primary threat. It is not right and needs to stop."
Elon’s tweet incited immediate backlash on X. People who previously admired him for his technological and business ventures also expressed their disappointment in the owner of X. Some people also called for him to resign.
Here are some of the reactions:
Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X took to the platform on November 17 and separately posted that X does not tolerate antisemitism and discrimination of any other kind. In her replies, people mentioned how Elon should be banned from the platform for the same reason of expressing supposedly antisemitic notions.
Linda was also met with calls to resign as people called her out for working for Elon Musk who had posted allegedly antisemitic remarks on X in the wake of the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
ADL's CEO responds to Elon Musk's seemingly antisemitic tweet
In another tweet, Elon Musk again mentioned ADL and wrote that he was extremely offended by the organization’s message as well as any other groups that he claimed are pushing “anti-white racism”.
Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of ADL, condemned Elon’s endorsement of antisemitism. He wrote:
“At a time when antisemitism is exploding in America and surging around the world, it is indisputably dangerous to use one’s influence to validate and promote antisemitic theories. #NeverIsNow.”
Elon’s political ideologies in relation to race have been quite a topic for discussion for months now. Since he took over Twitter (currently known as X) in October of last year, the billionaire restored some of the controversial conservative accounts and banned journalists from the platform who criticized him. He also penalized a few accounts.
