Is Elon Musk anti-Semitic? The man himself explains why he isn’t

Following an X post by Elon Musk last month, several media outlets in the US and around the world have been labeling the tech billionaire an anti-semite.

While highlighting Musk’s post that is at the center of the storm, the media persons, intentionally or unintentionally, are hiding or hush-hushing the fact that Musk had issued a clarification on the post.

Why Elon Musk was labeled Anti-Semitic by the media?

On 15 November, an X user posted a video where a father is seen scolding his son for the online hatred his son has spewed against Jewish communities.

“To the cowards hiding behind the anonymity of the internet and posting “Hitler was right. You got something you want to say? Why don’t you say it to our faces…” the X user wrote in the caption of the video.

In response to the post, another X user accused Jews of having hatred against white people.

“Jewish communties have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them. I’m deeply disinterested in giving the tiniest shit now about western Jewish populations coming to the disturbing realization that those hordes of minorities that support flooding their country don’t exactly like them too much. You want truth said to your face, there it is, (sic)” the second user wrote.

This Got Elon Musk Into Trouble

Commenting on the second user’s post, Musk wrote, “You have said the actual truth”.

Following this, a barrage of media stories claiming Musk made an anti-semitic post.

However, in the meantime, some of the notable American Jewish figures including Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro came out in Musk’s defense, basically saying that his criticism was directed towards liberal Jewish advocacy organisations like ADL.

Musk, who calls himself a free speech absolutist, had earlier blamed ADL (Anti-Defamation League) for a downfall in US advertising revenue on X.

Ad sales are still down 60% “primarily due to pressure on advertisers” mounted by the ADL, he said in September after the organization said reports of harassment and extremist content spiked after Musk took over the company.

Aftermath

After the media started him labelling anti-semitic, Musk in a post on X slammed the reports as “bogus”.

“This past week, there were hundreds of bogus media stories claiming that I am antisemitic. Nothing could be further from the truth. I wish only the best for humanity and a prosperous and exciting future for all,” he wrote on X.

One huge downside [For Musk] of the media’s portrayal of Musk’s post was that major advertisers, including Disney and Apple, stopped putting their ads on X.

After the controversy, Musk visited Israel in the last week of November, where he met with Israeli PM Netanyanu and President Isaac Herzog, and visited a Kibbutz attacked by Hamas terrorists on 7 October.

Musk’s apology and clarification on the post

Later in an interview with CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin at New York Times’ dealbook summit, Musk apologized for the post. However, he also clarified the reason as to why he responded to the post, which, according to him, was a foolish thing to do.

“I did my best to clarify afterward that I certainly don’t mean anti-semitic in that [post],” he said.

According to Elon, in the post agreeing with the X user, his “nature of the criticism was simply that Jewish people have been persecuted for thousands of years [so] there is a natural affinity, therefore, for persecuted groups”.

He added: “This has led to the funding of the organizations that essentially promote any persecuted group or any group with the perception of persecution. This include radical Islamic groups”.

He said that there were “massive demonstrations for Hamas” in every major city in the west.

“That should be jarring,” Musk said.

However, organizers of some of these protests claim the events were in support of Palestine.

“A number of those organizations received funding from prominent people in the Jewish community,” Musk said.

“They didn’t expect that to happen but if you generically without condition fund the persecuted groups in general, some of those persecuted groups, unfortunately, want your annihilation,” he said.

“And what I meant by that [post], subsequently clarified it, is that it’s unwise to fund organizations that support groups that want your annihilation,” the Tesla CEO said.

“Let’s say you fund a group, that group supports Hamas, who wants you to die. Perhaps, you should not fund them, right?” Musk asked.

“Look, I’m sorry for that post. It was foolish of me and it might be the dumbest post I’ve ever done. But I think overtime it’ll be obvious that far from being anti-semitic, I am philosemitic, and all the evidence in my track record would support that,” Musk said.