Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk is facing widespread criticism after a post on social media claiming that he is "aspirationally Jewish."
The Tesla CEO's statement comes after he visited the Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau on Monday. The remark is seen as part of an effort to atone for comments that many people saw as being antisemitic.
Musk is also arguing that if social media had existed at the time of the Holocaust, the tragedy could have been prevented. His Monday visit to the area was an apparent apology tour for his blatant antisemitism.
Later that day, he participated in a conference on antisemitism that was organized in Krakow by the European Jewish Association. The billionaire admitted that he had been "somewhat naive" about the dangers of antisemitism.
However, he seemingly revealed how little he actually cares when he sat down for an interview with conservative podcast host Ben Shapiro, who is also a conspiracy theorist. The two then insisted that social media could have stopped the Holocaust from happening in the first place, as per The New Republic.
Musk, in an attempt to prove their argument, showed fake tweets that he created of people who shared photographs of Nazi attacks on synagogues, supporting Jewish resistance fighters, and pushing back against Holocaust deniers.
Among them was also a tweet from the "official" Auschwitz account that claimed Jews in the area were "thriving," only to have a community note debunk that particular claim. However, it holds very little credibility for several reasons.
A major one is something that journalist Aaron Gordon pointed out, which is that Nazi Germany revoked Jews' right to free movement long before the death camps were even built. This means that all of the tweets from people who urged Jews to leave Germany would have been meaningless.
The situation comes as in the last few months, Musk has visited Israel, hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a Tesla factory in California, and repeatedly insisted that he bears no ill will toward Jews, according to the New York Times.
Rise of Antisemitism
The Tesla CEO is also under scrutiny after he previously endorsed an antisemitic post on X, formerly known as Twitter, as the "actual truth." The post in question accused Jewish communities of pushing "hatred against whites" and supporting the immigration of "hordes of minorities."
Musk also had an interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin to tell unhappy advertisers to get lost in vulgar terms. He accused them of trying to blackmail him as he threatened to take legal action against the Anti-Defamation League, a rights group that complained about the rising number of antisemitism posts on Musk's social media platform.
While Musk claimed that his visit to Auschwitz was for self-reflection and atonement, many saw it as an attempt to improve public relations amid his damaged reputation and a means to save his flagging business.
Prior to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, assaults, vandalism, harassment, and physical attacks against Jews had been increasing for several months. After the start of the war, Jews, regardless of their views or connections to Israel, have become targets to a degree that has never been experienced in the United States, said CNN.
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