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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 aimed 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 put up that accused Jewish communities of pushing “hatred in opposition to whites that they declare to need individuals to cease utilizing in opposition to them.” The flight of advertisers threatened to value 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.” Sporting a flak jacket, he toured Kfar Aza, an Israeli kibbutz the place dozens of individuals 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 known 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 struggle in Gaza. Mr. Musk mentioned 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 reduce civilian casualties within the enclave. “The rebuttal is commonly made that, properly Israel has killed civilians additionally in Gaza,” Mr. Musk mentioned. “However there is a vital distinction right here, which is that Israel tries to keep away from killing civilians.”
Specialists have mentioned that the killing of civilians within the Gaza Strip has been unprecedented when in comparison with latest conflicts.
Mr. Musk additionally mentioned it was a problem to cease “the type 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 put up 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 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 put up, 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 firms, together with Amazon, Coca-Cola and Microsoft, have additionally halted or are contemplating pausing their advertisements on the social community, in accordance 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 capturing in Allen, Texas, that left eight individuals lifeless had supported Nazi ideology, calling it a “very unhealthy psyop.”
When requested about these feedback on CNBC in Could, Mr. Musk was defiant. “I’ll say what I need, and if the consequence of that’s dropping cash, so be it,” he mentioned. The corporate has additionally mentioned 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 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 alternate 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 latest controversy, Mr. Musk posted the same 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 businesses 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.
Following his go to, Mr. Musk wrote a put up that mentioned, “Trite as it could sound, I want for world peace.”
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