Elon Musk Visits Auschwitz in Response to Controversy Surrounding Anti-Semitic Message in ‘X’

Elon Musk, who has faced criticism for endorsing anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and allowing anti-Semitic messages on X (formerly Twitter), paid a visit to the Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp on Monday.

Musk’s visit to this infamous site of Holocaust atrocities preceded his planned attendance at a conference on anti-Semitism organized by the European Jewish Association in the nearby Polish city of Krakow later that day.

Musk was photographed at the Birkenau location alongside Daily Wire podcaster Ben Shapiro, who was also set to participate in the EJA conference. Birkenau, a village near Oświęcim in southern Poland, is enclosed by barbed wire, and contains wooden barracks and the remains of gas chambers as a testament to the Nazi crimes committed there, as well as a monument to the victims. Annual international ceremonies are held at this site.

“Before attending the European Jewish Association conference, Elon Musk visited Auschwitz-Birkenau with EJA President Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Ben Shapiro, Holocaust survivor Gidon Lev John, and others. Mr. Musk laid a wreath at the Wall of Death and participated in a brief memorial and service next to the Birkenau Monument,” the EJA said in an email.

Mr. Musk was slated to engage in a discussion on online anti-Semitism with Mr. Shapiro at a conference in Krakow ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27.

After acquiring the platform formerly known as Twitter in 2022, Musk has been accused of allowing anti-Semitic messages on the platform and has faced criticism from the Anti-Defamation League and others. His actions sparked protests from the White House and elsewhere in November, when he posted “You told the truth” at X to a user who accused Jews of hating white people and professing indifference to anti-Semitism. He later apologized for the comment, calling it the most “stupid” post he had ever made.

Last year, several major brands, including Disney and IBM, took action after liberal advocacy group Media Matters found that their ads were running alongside pro-Nazi content and white supremacist posts on the platform. Advertising on the platform was suspended, and Company X subsequently sued Media Matters, alleging that the Washington-based nonprofit created the report in an effort to “drive advertisers off the platform and destroy Company X.”

During World War II, over 1.1 million people, including Jews, Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war, and homosexuals, were murdered at Auschwitz by the Nazis and their collaborators. In total, around 6 million European Jews lost their lives in the Holocaust, with approximately 7,000 survivors found when the Soviets liberated the camp.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Elon Musk faces backlash for endorsing anti-Semitic conspiracy theory as “actual truth”

Elon Musk has encouraged extremists and white supremacists throughout his year-long tenure as owner of Company X (formerly known as Twitter), but this week he continues to push back on the behavior that mainstream users — and advertisers — tolerate. succeeded in pushing the limits of

Musk on Wednesday endorsed a post by user X that accused the Jewish community of spreading “dialectical hatred against white people.” The statement itself was a response to another X post that shared a PSA video from a foundation fighting anti-Semitism, along with criticism of an anonymous user who posted online that “Hitler was right.”

“I believe that Western Jews, a large minority, [they supported] People who flood their countries don’t like themselves very much,” user X replied. “You want the truth told to your face, and there it is.”

Musk replied, “You told the truth.”

A post that went out of its way to praise Mr. Musk also caused the same thing. white supremacist conspiracy theory Endorsed by Tree of Life synagogue shooter Robert Bowers. Minutes before the shooting, Bowers posted on the far-right social media site Gab that HIAS, a Jewish-American nonprofit that helps refugees, “likes to bring in invaders who will kill our people. ” he posted. “I cannot stand by and watch my fellow citizens being slaughtered,” Bowers wrote shortly before 11 people were murdered at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

The X owner and CTO’s comments have drawn increasingly widespread condemnation. On Friday, White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said: answered Musk’s recent support for white supremacy in his platform.

Citing the Tree of Life tragedy and the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel, Bates said, “This abhorrent act of fomenting anti-Semitism and racist hatred is the most “I condemn this in the strongest terms. This goes against our core values ​​as Americans.” It is a responsibility to unite people against hate and to speak out against those who attack the dignity of our fellow Americans and undermine the safety of our communities. ”

The fallout from Musk’s endorsement of anti-Semitic and racist conspiracies was further compounded Friday afternoon. Apple announces “temporary suspension” All company ads on X.

The tweet, which Musk called “actual truth,” also resonated with broader opinion. great replacement Conspiracy theory. A theory popularized by white supremacists to instill fear that non-whites will usurp the majority of the white population in countries like the United States.

The owner of X has been involved with anti-Semites before. Musk previously welcomed Kanye West to X after the singer was banned from posting on Instagram after he used anti-Semitic tropes. Less than a day later, West infamously tweeted, “I’m going to die.” [sic] con 3 About the Jews,” he then posted a Star of David fused with a swastika. X suspended West’s account in December, but reinstated it over the summer.

A year ago, Musk reinstated a number of accounts previously suspended for spreading hate, including Andrew Anglin, the notorious neo-Nazi who started the white supremacist website Daily Stormer. After his return, Mr. Anglin delved into Twitter’s new rules in a reply to Mr. Musk. “You got a 12-hour suspension for tweeting a Star of David with a swastika on it…whatever the rules are, people will follow them. We need to know what the rules are. It just is.”

Musk has made a habit of engaging with self-proclaimed white supremacists and other hate activists. In September, Musk liked someone’s tweet. Self-proclaimed “violent anti-Semite” Musk is the one who started the campaign to ban the Anti-Defamation League from X, accusing the Jewish civil rights group ADL of being “the biggest generator of anti-Semitism on this platform.” , threatened to sue the group over lost advertising revenue due to criticism of the rise in hate speech against X under his leadership;

Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskowitz sarcastically said: Explanation Regarding the situation with Threads, a competitor of Meta’s X. “Xitter CEO Linda Yaccarino is making the biggest decision yet as she decides whether to fire her anti-Semitic CTO or risk losing even more advertisers. We are facing challenges,” Moskowitz wrote. “How will she deal with this difficult but morally clear situation?”

Source: techcrunch.com