{"id":20742,"date":"2023-11-27T20:32:38","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T02:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=20742"},"modified":"2023-11-27T20:32:42","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T02:32:42","slug":"elon-musk-visits-israel-to-meet-top-leaders-as-accusations-of-antisemitism-on-x-grow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=20742","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk visits Israel to meet top leaders as accusations of antisemitism on X grow"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

JERUSALEM (AP) \u2014 Elon Musk, who\u2019s been under fire for endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory and wider accusations of hatred flourishing<\/a> on his social media platform X, visited Israel, where he toured a kibbutz attacked by Hamas militants and held talks with top leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The billionaire met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who scolded him over content on the platform previously known as Twitter, and joined Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a tour of the Kfar Azza kibbutz, a rural village that Hamas militants stormed<\/a> on Oct. 7 in a deadly assault that launched the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wearing a protective vest and escorted by a phalanx of security personnel as rain fell, Musk used his phone to take photos or videos of the devastation, according to video released by Netanyahu\u2019s office<\/a>. Musk\u2019s visit came as Israel and Hamas reached a deal to extend a cease-fire for two more days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tesla CEO and prime minister visited the damaged homes of victims, including the family of\u00a0Abigail Edan, a 4-year-old girl<\/a>\u00a0with dual Israeli-U.S. citizenship who was held hostage by Hamas after her parents were killed.\u00a0She was released Sunday<\/a>\u00a0in the latest round of exchanges during a cease-fire in Gaza set to expire after Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was jarring to see the scene of the massacre,\u201d Musk said in a conversation with Netanyahu streamed on X. He said he was troubled by video and photos that the prime minister showed him of the killings of civilians, including children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They spoke broadly about the conflict, the protests it has generated<\/a>, the Middle East and more but did not touch on antisemitism online. Netanyahu, who urged a rollback of such hatred in a September meeting with Musk<\/a>, said he hoped the billionaire would be involved in building a better future. Musk replied, \u201cI\u2019d love to help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herzog did confront Musk, saying that \u201cthe platforms you lead, unfortunately, have a huge reservoir of hatred, hatred of Jews and antisemitism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Israeli president was joined in the meeting by some of the families of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, according to a statement from Herzog\u2019s office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHatred of the Jews affects the behavior of people in many places around the world, and you have a huge role to play in this,\u201d Herzog told Musk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The X owner responded that it had been a \u201cdifficult day emotionally\u201d following the tour and that \u201cwe have to do whatever is necessary to stop the hate,\u201d according to Herzog\u2019s office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Referring to Hamas militants, Musk said, \u201cIt\u2019s amazing what humans can do if they\u2019re fed lies since they were children. They will think that murdering innocents is a good thing, which shows how much propaganda can affect people\u2019s minds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musk has faced accusations from the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish civil rights organization, and others of tolerating antisemitic messages on the platform since purchasing it last year. The content on X has gained increased scrutiny since the war between Israel and Hamas<\/a> began in October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slew of big brands, including Disney and IBM, decided this month to stop advertising on the platform<\/a> after a report by liberal advocacy group Media Matters said ads were appearing alongside pro-Nazi content and white nationalist posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same week, Musk responded on X<\/a> to a user who accused Jews of hating white people and professing indifference to antisemitism by posting, \u201cYou have said the actual truth.\u201d He has faced outcry, including from the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The billionaire, who has described himself as a free-speech absolutist, tweeted during his Israel visit that \u201cactions speak louder than words.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X has since sued Media Matters<\/a>, saying the Washington-based nonprofit manufactured the report to \u201cdrive advertisers from the platform and destroy X Corp.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy declined to say whether Musk was invited to the country or came on his own. X, formerly known as Twitter, did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel also settled a spat with Musk over his Starlink satellite internet company, with Starlink agreeing to operate in Gaza only with government approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a result of this significant agreement, Starlink satellite units can only be operated in Israel with the approval of the Israeli Ministry of Communications, including the Gaza Strip,\u201d Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi tweeted<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two had tangled online previously after Musk promised that Starlink would support connectivity<\/a> to internationally recognized aid groups in Gaza, drawing a rebuke from Karhi<\/a>, who said Israeli would fight it because Hamas would use the service for militant activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

apnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JERUSALEM (AP) \u2014 Elon Musk, who\u2019s been under fire for endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory and wider accusations of hatred flourishing on his social media platform X, visited Israel, where he toured a kibbutz attacked by Hamas militants and held talks with top leaders. The billionaire met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who scolded him over content […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":20743,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1155],"tags":[4307,3676,3070,1239,605,23475],"class_list":["post-20742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-anti-semitism","tag-charges","tag-elon-musk","tag-israel","tag-visit","tag-x"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20742"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20744,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20742\/revisions\/20744"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}