Elon Musk, After a Visit to Auschwitz, Says He’s Found Antisemitism in His Own Family and Calls Himself an ‘Aspirational Jew’

KRAKOW, Poland — Billionaire Elon Musk, in a rare interview after a visit to the Auschwitz concentration camp, says he was stunned to find antisemitism within his own family. The entrepreneur added that his family member had told him that America “deserved to have the Twin Towers destroyed because of our foreign policy.”The X boss, in a conversation with Ben Shapiro at the European Jewish Association’s delegation in Poland, described himself as an “aspirational Jew.” That followed his private visit to the death camp accompanied by Holocaust survivor Gidon Lev and the association’s chairman, Rabbi Menachem Margolin. Despite having many Jewish friends, Mr. Musk said he was stunned to discover that antisemitism was still an issue even in his own family. “In the circles that I move I see almost no antisemitism,” he told the delegates from around Europe, Israel, and America. “I never hear it at dinner conversations; it’s an absurdity in my friend circles. Looking at the pro-Hamas rallies that have taken place at almost every city in the West it’s blown my mind, including at elite college campuses,” he said.“You’re supposed to be enlightened on these campuses, not fostering hate. I went to U Penn and thought, ‘This is unbelievable.’ My kids are pretty well read. They have read a lot of history and they are not ignorant but I’ve had some sort of conversations with some nephews or family members where I was actually shocked to see examples of antisemitism, however,” Mr. Musk said.“In one disturbing conversation, even saying we deserved to have the Twin Towers destroyed because of our foreign policy, and I thought, ‘Is this what they are teaching you in our elite high schools?’”Mr. Musk’s appearance followed controversy about some of his comments on his social media platform, X, which were called out as antisemitism. Admitting that he tweets up to 100 times a day, he says sometimes he does get things wrong, and it is right that he is called out on it.“Once in a while, I’ll do something dumb. I try to say things which are interesting or funny. If I say something wrong the community will correct me very quickly. I recommend leaders of the world should post their own stuff — once in a while, you will make a mistake, but don’t worry about it,” Mr. Musk said.The X boss visited Kibbutz Beeri following the October 7 attacks and still wears a dog tag around his neck with the words “Bring Them Home Now” engraved on them. He says he has been stunned to see how quickly the world turned on Israel.“I saw all the videos and the most shocking thing to see was the delight taken in killing kids and defenseless women. There was no remorse, quite the opposite,” he said.“That requires a level of indoctrination which is extremely intense. The indoctrination of hate in kids in Gaza has to stop. We also need to stop thinking about things from the principle that the weaker party is always right. If some of those weaker groups want to annihilate you, they are not. You have to judge any group against moral standards – are they doing bad things? Do they want to murder innocent people?”He also attacked the Diversity and Inclusion industry saying: “Diversity, equity, inclusion all sound like nice words but what it really means is discrimination on the basis of race, sex etc., rather than merit. I think we need to return to a focus on merit. What matters is how good you are at your work,” Mr. Musk said.Political figures from 25 European countries, including a former French prime minister, Manuel Valls, and a former Austrian chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, a former Italian premier, Matteo Rensi, and former Israeli president, Reuven Rivlin, all spoke at the conference, which will be followed by a ceremony at Auschwitz. Mr. Rivlin told the delegates, “While Israel is fighting Hamas after the terrible massacre it carried out on 7/10, Europe is flooded with a huge number of manifestations of antisemitism and racism on campuses, in the media, in the streets and in politics.” Mr. Valls added, “This is a problem not only for Jews but all people with western values. We are all Jews.”

Elon Musk, After a Visit to Auschwitz, Says He’s Found Antisemitism in His Own Family and Calls Himself an ‘Aspirational Jew’

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