Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has backed Elon Musk over accusation he made a Nazi salute claiming he the billionaire X owner is being “falsely smeared.”
In a post on the vocal supporter and ally of US President Donald Trump’s social media platform, Netanyahu claimed Musk as “a great friend of Israel.”
He added:”Elon Musk is being falsely smeared.
“Elon is a great friend of Israel. He visited Israel after the October 7 massacre in which Hamas terrorists committed the worst atrocity against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
“He has since repeatedly and forcefully supported Israel’s right to defend itself against genocidal terrorists and regimes who seek to annihilate the one and only Jewish state. I thank him for this.”
Musk had made a straight-armed gesture during the inauguration of the new US president on Monday that many saw as a Nazi salute, during a speech in which he hailed Trump’s ideological stance.
Elon Musk. Screenshot.
Michel Friedman, former deputy chair of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, described Musk’s actions at an event after Donald Trump’s swearing in as US president as a disgrace and said a “dangerous point for the entire free world” had been reached.
Dave Rich, the Community Security Trust’s policy head, also said:”It was a fascist salute. Even if it came from his subconscious, that’s what it was. “There shouldn’t be any doubt about that.”
But other communal voices continued to defend Musk over his actions.
“It seems that Elon Musk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute,” the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) wrote, in a judgement that seemed to be less severe than some of their proclamations of antisemitism in the past.
Deborah Lipstadt, who served as the Biden administration’s special envoy combating global antisemitism until this week also downplayed the incident.
“I believe we have much, much bigger things to worry about regarding contemporary antisemitism than this particular issue,” Lipstadt said.
Musk joined the Israeli Prime Minister to visit Kibbutz Kfar Aza following the October 7 Hamas atrocity.
Musk has long faced criticism over his suppport for anti-immigrant figures and statements, including Tommy Robinson in the UK.
He has recenly promoted the German far-right AfD party, some of whose politicians have downplayed the Holocaust
Weeks after Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack, he endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory shared on X as “the actual truth,” prompting many advertisers to flee the platform.
He later mounted a rehabilitation effort, visiting Auschwitz.
