Elon Musk traveled to Israel and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, touring the site of a Hamas attack in a visit that appeared aimed at calming the outcry over his endorsement of an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory on X, the Hamas platform. social networks you own.
Dozens of major brands suspended their advertising on X after Musk this month agreed with a post that accused Jewish communities of fueling “anti-white hate that they say they want people to stop using against them.” The leak of advertisers threatened to cost X tens of millions of dollars, and the White House denounced Musk for “abhorrent promotion of anti-Semitic and racist hatred.”
On Tuesday, after arriving in Israel, Musk wrote on X that “actions speak louder than words.” Wearing a bulletproof vest, he toured Kfar Aza, an Israeli kibbutz where dozens of people were killed during the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7.
Video shared by Netanyahu’s office showed the two men, accompanied by security personnel, walking through the village in the rain and inspecting the blackened ruins of a house. Netanyahu said on X that he gave Musk the tour “to show him up close the crimes against humanity committed by Hamas.”
In a conversation with Netanyahu broadcast on
Netanyahu spent most of the conversation explaining the reasons for the war in Gaza. Musk agreed that it was important to “get rid of those who are hell-bent on murdering Jews,” although he also added that it was important to minimize civilian casualties in the enclave.
Musk also said it was a challenge to stop “the kind of propaganda that convinces people to commit murder,” an apparent reference to the ideology that had driven the Hamas attack. Netanyahu did not mention Musk’s social media post during the conversation, and Musk did not address it or X’s role in shaping public attitudes about anti-Semitism.
Since Musk’s post, dozens of major brands, including IBM, Apple and Disney, have paused their advertising campaigns on X, and the company, which Musk bought in October last year for $44 billion, could lose up to $75 million. dollars in advertising. income at the end of the year. Other large companies, including Amazon, Coca-Cola and Microsoft, have also stopped or are considering suspending their ads on the social network, according to internal documents.
Musk has also faced broader criticism for condoning and even encouraging anti-Semitic abuse on his social media platform. He has attacked George Soros, the financier who is a frequent target of anti-Semitic abuse, and has threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League, a human rights group that has highlighted the rise of anti-Semitism in X.
In May, he compared the 93-year-old Holocaust survivor to Magneto, the X-Men supervillain who has Jewish roots, and saying that Mr. Soros “hates humanity.”
That same month, Mr. Musk put on doubt that a gunman behind a mass shooting in Allen, Texas, that left eight dead had supported Nazi ideology, calling it a “very bad psychological operation.”
When asked about those comments on CNBC In May, Musk was defiant. “I’ll say what I want, and if the consequence of that is losing money, so be it,” he said. The company has also said that concerns about anti-Semitic posts on the platform are overblown.
Musk has not explained why he visited Israel, but he has had past dealings with its prime minister. In September, he hosted Netanyahu at an event at a Tesla factory in Fremont, California, as the two sought to deflect criticism.
“It’s not easy to be slandered. I know you’ve never seen that, right?” Netanyahu said during the event.
“Me, defamed?” Mr. Musk responded with a laugh. “Never.”
During that exchange, Musk also responded to reports about the rise of anti-Semitic content on the social network.
“Obviously I am against anti-Semitism, I am against everything,” he said. “And I am in favor of that which helps sustain society and leads us to a better future for humanity.”
Following his recent controversy, Musk released a similar statement earlier this month, calling reports that he was anti-Semitic “false.”
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said. wrote.
On Monday, Israel appeared to reach an understanding with Musk over his proposal this month to deploy Starlink, your owned satellite internet service, in Gaza for use by aid agencies amid mobile phone and internet blackouts. Palestinians have blamed Israel for the communications disruptions.
Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said Musk had agreed not to open access to the system in Israel and Gaza without the permission of his ministry. “This understanding is vital,” Karhi wrote in X.
