Is Elon Musk the Next Great Jewish Ally?

Could it be that Elon Musk — once accused by the Anti-Defamation League of antisemitism — is now an unlikely Jewish ally? Depends on whom you ask. Mr. Musk’s potential emergence as a pro-Israel and pro-Jewish advocate was a topic of heated discussion online following his appearance at Prime Minister Netanyahu’s address on Wednesday to a joint meeting of Congress.The entrepreneur’s presence in the House gallery, where he sat behind Mr. Netanyahu’s wife, Sara Netanyahu, who was accompanying rescued hostage Noa Argamani and her father, was at first a surprise. It was then confirmed he was invited by the prime minister. Mr. Musk’s appearance at the joint meeting of Congress was lauded by other members of the Jewish community, who noted that nearly half of congressional Democrats, including Vice President Harris, had skipped the prime minister’s speech. International human rights lawyer and pro-Israel advocate, Arsen Ostrovsky, wrote on X, “Two of the great minds of our generation, @DouglasKMurray and @elonmusk, sitting in attendance with Israel’s delegation, during PM @netanyahu’s historic address to Congress yesterday.” He added: “I will happily take these two in our corner any day of the week.” Other influential Jewish figures, like Dr. Eli David and Hillel Fuld, who together boast nearly a million followers on X, shared similar messages of praise online. Mr. Musk was active on X throughout his visit to the House, denouncing the anti-Israel protests that took place outside of the Capitol.“This is messed up” Mr. Musk commented on a video showing anti-Israel protesters Wednesday vandalizing the Freedom Bell, a replica of the original Liberty Bell that hangs at Philadelphia. The post showed the historic monument defiled with graffiti including “long live the intifada” “crush Zionism,” along with coarse references. The same day he also drew attention to a video circulating on X allegedly showing a masked terrorist threatening Israeli athletes participating at the Paris Olympics. Mr. Musk underscored the threat by commenting two exclamation points on one of the videos. His comment caught the eye of an influential British-Iranian Jewish figure, Nioh Berg, who thanked him for calling out the violent video.“Elon, purchasing Twitter and turning it into X, single handedly saved journalism and public discourse,” she wrote underneath his comment. “Thank you for bringing attention to these horrifying threats. We could never have brought this level of awareness on any other platform.”Mr. Musk’s recent comments appear to mark a steady ramp up in his pro-Jewish, pro-Israel content online. However, not all major Jewish figures are prepared to welcome the controversial businessman with open arms.The former national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, expressed skepticism about whether Mr. Musk is a reliable ally to the Jewish people. “I’m uncomfortable with his support,” Mr. Foxman tells the Sun. “I think he’s fickle, inconsistent, irrational, radical, both in his business and his public behavior.” Mr. Foxman cites his ongoing lawsuit with Tesla shareholders over his record breaking $56 billion pay package as an example of his “antagonism” towards those he works with. The businessman has also faced criticism for having a workplace romance with a subordinate employee, kindled concern among investors of his various companies over his daily Ketamine consumption, and has been accused of creating a “pervasively sexist culture” at his rocket manufacturing company SpaceX. The list goes on. “This is not someone I want for a friend and an advocate, but I also don’t want him for an enemy,” Mr. Foxman says, referencing an old Jewish saying: “I don’t want your honey nor do I want your stings.” Mr. Musk’s relationship with the Jewish community has also been “inconsistent,” Mr. Foxman adds. Late last year, Mr. Musk was accused of various antisemitic offenses, including a charge from the current head of the ADL, Jonathan Greenblatt, that he wasn’t taking adequate measures to keep antisemitic content from X after he purchased it in 2022. Mr. Musk then railed against the ADL for “trying to kill this platform by falsely accusing it & me of being anti-Semitic” and threatened to file a defamation lawsuit against the organization. Mr. Greenblatt then accused Mr. Musk of being “dangerous and deeply irresponsible.”The Tesla head also defended a post in November accusing Jews of hating white people by adding, “You have said the actual truth.” The White House denounced the comment as an “abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate.” Major brands including Disney, Warner Bros, Discovery and others paused their advertising campaigns on X in retaliation. Mr. Musk accused the companies of being “evil” and said that they should not use X for marketing purposes if they are just going to “blackmail me with advertising.”Mr. Musk eventually apologized for his comment about Jews hating white people, saying it was “literally the worst and dumbest post” he has ever made — which is saying something, considering that the social media mogul has made some 48,000 posts since joining X, known at the time as Twitter, in 2009.He even called himself “philosemitic,” citing his “natural affinity” for persecuted groups. His effort to make good with the Jewish community, however, didn’t end there.Later in November Mr. Musk answered Mr. Greenblatt’s call to strengthen sanctions on antisemitic content on X by announcing that users who use the terms “decolonization,” “from the river to the sea,” or other phrases that “imply genocide” would be subject to suspension. Mr. Greenblatt commended the decision and expressed his appreciation for Mr. Musk’s “leadership in fighting hate.”A few weeks later, the business mogul traveled to Israel, paying a visit to an Israeli kibbutz that was ravaged during Hamas’s attack on October 7. During the trip he spoke out against “propaganda” that “is training people to be murderers in the future.” Mr. Netanyahu responded by expressing his hope that Mr. Musk will stay “involved” in the effort. While Mr. Ostrovsky tells the Sun that he had previously “expressed concern” over some of Mr. Musk’s “decisions and on-line engagement,” he believes that “the events of October 7th, including his visit to Israel, seeing the sites of the Hamas massacre himself and meetings with hostage families” likely served as “eye-opening experiences” for the business mogul. “The pro-Israel community can truly consider him an ally,” he adds. By the time he came home, the social media hoopla surrounding his antisemitic comments had died down. Mr. Musk’s redemption tour appeared to have come to an end. Then, in January, Mr. Musk traveled to Poland to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau with his 3-year-old son, political commentator Ben Shapiro, and the founder of the European Jewish Association, Rabbi Menachem Margolin. During the trip he acknowledged that the devastation of the Holocaust “hits you much more in the heart when you see it in person.” While in Poland, Mr. Musk traveled to Krakow to attend a conference on antisemitism. The conference was organized by the European Jewish Association. Mr. Musk professed that he had been “naive” about the current rise in antisemitism.“In the circles that I move, I see almost no antisemitism,” he said during a panel conversation with Mr. Shapiro, joking that “I have twice as many Jewish friends as non-Jewish friends. I’m like Jewish by association, I’m aspirationally Jewish.” It’s unclear what spurred Mr. Musk to visit the Nazi death camp. He offered no formal explanation. What is clear is that Mr. Musk’s increasingly pro-Jewish, pro-Israel advocacy has coincided with a steady political shift rightward. Although the entrepreneur said he previously voted for Democratic presidential nominees, he announced back in 2022 that he would vote along Republican party lines. That was after disavowing the left for becoming “the party of division & hate.” A few weeks ago he endorsed President Trump. A quick scroll through his page on X suggests that his criticism of the Democratic Party is largely directed at its “woke” policies. He has also condemned the party for being antisemitic — a criticism he voiced after observing the Democratic boycott of Mr. Netanyahu’s Congressional address. “People who have been lifelong Democrats refuse to accept the clear reality that the Democratic Party is rapidly become openly antisemitic,” he wrote on X last week. “This trend is accelerating, not slowing down.” Mr. Foxman still remains skeptical about the true Elon Musk. “One day he brings antisemitism, the next day he’s anti-antisemitism,” he says. “He’s not consistent, he’s not dependable.” Mr. Musk has not yet responded to the Sun’s request for comment.

Is Elon Musk the Next Great Jewish Ally?

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