Elon Musk traveled to Israel and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, touring the scene of a Hamas assault in a go to that appeared geared toward calming the outcry over his endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy concept on X, the social media platform he owns.
Dozens of main manufacturers suspended their promoting on X after Mr. Musk this month agreed with a submit that accused Jewish communities of pushing “hatred towards whites that they declare to need individuals to cease utilizing towards them.” The flight of advertisers threatened to price X tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars}, and the White Home denounced Mr. Musk for “abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate.”
On Tuesday, after arriving in Israel, Mr. Musk wrote on X that “actions communicate louder than phrases.” Carrying a flak jacket, he toured Kfar Aza, an Israeli kibbutz the place dozens of individuals have been killed throughout the Hamas terrorist assault on Oct. 7.
Video shared by Mr. Netanyahu’s workplace confirmed the 2 males, accompanied by safety personnel, strolling by way of the village within the rain and inspecting the blackened ruins of a home. Mr. Netanyahu stated on X that he gave Mr. Musk the tour “to point out him up shut the crimes towards humanity dedicated by Hamas.”
In a dialog with Mr. Netanyahu broadcast on X, Mr. Musk known as the go to to Kfar Aza “jarring” and stated he additionally had been proven footage of the Oct. 7 bloodbath that he discovered “troubling.”
Mr. Netanyahu spent the majority of the dialog explaining the rationale for the battle in Gaza. Mr. Musk stated in settlement that it was vital to “do away with those who’re hellbent on murdering Jewish individuals,” although he additionally added that it was vital to attenuate civilian casualties within the enclave.
Mr. Musk additionally stated it was a problem to cease “the form of propaganda that’s convincing individuals to interact in homicide,” an obvious reference to the ideology that had fueled Hamas’ assault. Mr. Netanyahu didn’t elevate Mr. Musk’s social media submit throughout the dialog and Mr. Musk didn’t seek advice from it, or to the position of X in shaping public attitudes over antisemitism.
However his go to did draw criticism from some who accused the Israeli authorities of giving Mr. Musk cowl.
“Welcoming such a poisonous mogul with open arms and taking him round websites of a bloodbath that has been belittled, demeaned and denied on his watch needs to be a stain on Netanyahu’s legacy,” wrote Ben Samuels, the U.S. correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Since Mr. Musk’s submit, dozens of main manufacturers together with IBM, Apple and Disney have paused their promoting campaigns on X, and the corporate, which Mr. Musk bought in October final 12 months for $44 billion, might lose as a lot as $75 million in promoting income by the tip of the 12 months. Different main corporations, together with Amazon, Coca-Cola and Microsoft, have additionally halted or are contemplating pausing their advertisements on the social community, in response to inside paperwork.
Mr. Musk has additionally confronted broader criticism for tolerating and even encouraging antisemitic abuse on his social media platform. He has attacked George Soros, the financier who’s a frequent goal of antisemitic abuse, and threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League, a rights group that has highlighted the rise in antisemitism on X.
In Could, he likened Mr. Soros, a 93-year-old Holocaust survivor, to Magneto — the X-Males supervillain who has Jewish roots — and stated that Mr. Soros “hates humanity.”
That very same month, Mr. Musk forged doubt {that a} gunman behind a mass capturing in Allen, Texas, that left eight individuals lifeless had supported Nazi ideology, calling it a “very dangerous psyop.”
When requested about these feedback on CNBC in Could, Mr. Musk was defiant. “I’ll say what I would like, and if the consequence of that’s shedding cash, so be it,” he stated. The corporate has additionally stated that considerations over antisemitic posts on the platform are overblown.
Mr. Musk has not defined why he visited Israel, however he has had previous dealings with its prime minister. In September, he hosted Mr. Netanyahu for an occasion at a Tesla manufacturing unit in Fremont, Calif., as each males sought to deflect criticism.
“It’s not a straightforward factor to be maligned — I do know you’ve by no means seen that, proper?” Mr. Netanyahu stated throughout the occasion.
“Me, maligned?” Mr. Musk responded, laughing. “By no means.”
Throughout that change Mr. Musk additionally responded to studies of rising antisemitic content material on the social community.
“Clearly I’m towards antisemitism — I’m towards anti-anything,” he stated. “And I’m in favor of that which helps uphold society and takes us to a greater future for humanity.”
Following his latest controversy, Mr. Musk posted the same assertion earlier this month, calling information tales that he was antisemitic “bogus.”
“Nothing might be farther from the reality,” he wrote.
On Monday, Israel appeared to succeed in an understanding with Mr. Musk over his proposal this month to deploy Starlink, the satellite tv for pc web service he owns, in Gaza for help companies to make use of amid mobile and web blackouts. Palestinians have blamed Israel for the communications interruptions.
Israel’s communications minister, Shlomo Karhi, stated that Mr. Musk had consented to not open entry to the system in Israel and in Gaza with out the permission of his ministry. “This understanding is important,” Mr. Karhi wrote on X.