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 theory on X, the social media platform he owns.
Dozens of main manufacturers suspended their advertising on X after Mr. Musk this month agreed with a put up that accused Jewish communities of pushing “hatred in opposition to whites that they declare to need folks to cease utilizing in opposition to them.” 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 converse louder than phrases.” Carrying a flak jacket, he toured Kfar Aza, an Israeli kibbutz the place dozens of people have been killed through 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 mentioned on X that he gave Mr. Musk the tour “to indicate him up shut the crimes in opposition to humanity dedicated by Hamas.”
In a dialog with Mr. Netanyahu broadcast on X, Mr. Musk referred to as the go to to Kfar Aza “jarring” and mentioned 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 warfare in Gaza. Mr. Musk mentioned in settlement that it was necessary to “do away with those who’re hellbent on murdering Jewish folks,” although he additionally added that it was necessary to attenuate civilian casualties within the enclave.
Mr. Musk additionally mentioned it was a problem to cease “the type of propaganda that’s convincing folks to have interaction in homicide,” an obvious reference to the ideology that had fueled Hamas’ assault. Mr. Netanyahu didn’t increase Mr. Musk’s social media put up through the dialog and Mr. Musk didn’t confer with it, or to the position of X in shaping public attitudes over antisemitism.
The X proprietor is predicted to fulfill afterward Monday with President Isaac Herzog of Israel.
Mr. Musk’s go to comes as he faces 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 Might, he likened the 93-year-old Holocaust survivor to Magneto — the X-Males supervillain who has Jewish roots — and said that Mr. Soros “hates humanity.”
That very same month, Mr. Musk cast doubt {that a} gunman behind a mass shooting in Allen, Texas, that left eight folks useless had supported Nazi ideology, calling it a “very unhealthy psyop.”
When requested about these feedback on CNBC in Might, Mr. Musk was defiant. “I’ll say what I would like, and if the consequence of that’s shedding cash, so be it,” he mentioned. The corporate has additionally mentioned that concerns 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 facility in Fremont, Calif., as each males sought to deflect criticism.
“It’s not a simple factor to be maligned — I do know you’ve by no means seen that, proper?” Mr. Netanyahu mentioned through the occasion.
“Me, maligned?” Mr. Musk responded, laughing. “By no means.”
Throughout that change Mr. Musk additionally responded to experiences of rising antisemitic content material on the social community.
“Clearly I’m in opposition to antisemitism — I’m in opposition to anti-anything,” he mentioned. “And I’m in favor of that which helps uphold society and takes us to a greater future for humanity.”
Following his current controversy, Mr. Musk posted an analogous assertion earlier this month, calling information tales that he was antisemitic “bogus.”
“Nothing could possibly be farther from the reality,” he wrote.
On Monday, Israel appeared to achieve an understanding with Mr. Musk over his proposal this month to deploy Starlink, the satellite internet service he owns, in Gaza for assist companies to make use of amid mobile and web blackouts. Palestinians have blamed Israel for the communications interruptions.
Israel’s communications minister, Shlomo Karhi, mentioned that Mr. Musk had consented to not open access to the system in Israel and in Gaza with out the permission of his ministry. “This understanding is significant,” Mr. Karhi wrote on X.