Elon Musk, In Flash Visit to Israel, To Tackle Issues of Online Antisemitism

For Elon Musk, “next year in Jerusalem” is Monday. Amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, the billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, proprietor of the social network X, has journeyed to Israel. Today, at the Israeli capital of Jerusalem, he will meet with President Herzog to discuss the online fight against antisemitism.During the afternoon meeting, Mr. Herzog will be accompanied by representatives of families of Israeli hostages still being held by Hamas. According to a statement from Mr. Herzog’s office, he “will emphasize the need to act to combat growing antisemitism online.”Mr. Musk’s visit to Jerusalem comes at an emotionally charged moment for Israelis. It coincides with the final day of a renewable truce between Israel and Hamas under the terms of which some hostages held in the Gaza Strip have just been released.The Israeli army has estimated that a total of 240 hostages were forcibly taken to Gaza during the assault by Hamas. According to Israeli authorities, 1,200 people, the vast majority civilians, were killed in the attack. In retaliation, Israel promised to extirpate Hamas from the Gaza Strip, where it seized power in 2007. Violence has escalated since the start of the war, and Jewish organizations have reported an increase in antisemitic acts in different countries, notably in Europe and America. While tensions in the Middle East may have sparked latent hostilities, acrimonious online exchanges can take on their own toxic dimension. Not even the White House seems able to stay above the fray. This month a Biden administration official, perhaps with nothing else of substance to do, sharply criticized Mr. Musk for an offhand remark about racial issues not related to events in the Middle East. In another seemingly odd twist, Mr. Musk has said he would sue the Anti-Defamation League for defamation, claiming that the ADL has been trying to “kill” the social media platform he owns, X, “by falsely accusing it and me of being antisemitic.”Whether Mr. Musk’s sit-downs with Israeli officials today will change what can be freely said and not said on X remains to be seen. What can be said is that by traveling to Israel, Mr. Musk is elevating the debate over online hate to center stage, leaving the likes of ADL chief Jonathan Greenblatt — with whom he has sparred on X — on the sidelines, at least temporarily. In September, before the war between Israel and Hamas, Prime Minister Netanyahu met Musk at San Francisco and spoke live on the platform that belongs to the boss of Tesla and SpaceX. “I hope that you will find the ability to put an end to antisemitism (on X) or to reduce it as much as possible, within the limits of freedom of expression,” Mr. Netanyahu stated. What made Elon Musk the world’s wealthiest man, however, was not his aptitude in winning debates about free speech but his entrepreneurial prowess and easy command of complex technological issues. One such issue concerns SpaceX’s satellite Internet system, Starlink. On Monday Israel’s communications ministry announced an agreement had been reached that Starlink satellite units can be operated in Israel only with Israeli government approval. Because of the importance of satellite-based communications in modern warfare, notably in Ukraine since the Russian invasion last year, Starlink has been the subject of considerable controversy in recent months. On Monday, Israel’s communications minister, Shlomo Karhi, stated on X, “as the State of Israel fights against Hamas-ISIS, this understanding is vital, as is it for everyone who desires a better world, free of evil and free of antisemitism, for our children’s sake.”The Israeli press reported on Sunday evening a possible meeting between Musk and Netanyahu, which, however, was not confirmed by the Prime Minister’s office.Also on Sunday Mr. Netanyahu visited Israeli troops inside the Gaza Strip. There, he said “Nothing will stop us. We are convinced that we have the power, the strength, the will, and the determination to achieve all the war’s goals, and we will.”In terms of also winning the online narrative as Israel battles Hamas, though, Mr. Musk is a man whom Jerusalem will want to have in its corner. This is the case even as anti-Israeli content online is proliferating on many Silicon Valley-based social media platforms. These include Wikipedia, as well as two Meta-owned platforms: Facebook and Instagram.

Elon Musk, In Flash Visit to Israel, To Tackle Issues of Online Antisemitism

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