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 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 thousands and 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 converse louder than phrases.” Sporting a flak jacket, he toured Kfar Aza, an Israeli kibbutz the place dozens of people had 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 via 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 referred to 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 essential to “do away with those who’re hellbent on murdering Jewish individuals,” although he additionally added that it was essential to reduce 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 through the dialog and Mr. Musk didn’t consult with 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 ought 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 major brands together with IBM, Apple and Disney have paused their promoting campaigns on X, and the corporate, which Mr. Musk bought in October final yr for $44 billion, may lose as a lot as $75 million in promoting income by the top of the yr. Different main firms, together with Amazon, Coca-Cola and Microsoft, have additionally halted or are contemplating pausing their adverts on the social community, in line with inner 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 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 individuals useless 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 dropping cash, so be it,” he stated. The corporate has additionally stated 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 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 through the occasion.
“Me, maligned?” Mr. Musk responded, laughing. “By no means.”
Throughout that change Mr. Musk additionally responded to reviews 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 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 succeed in an understanding with Mr. Musk over his proposal this month to deploy Starlink, the satellite internet service he owns, in Gaza for support 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 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.