Musk to meet Israel PM amid anti-Semitism row; Sunak slams anti-Jewish hatred

Caught up in a fierce public backlash for allegedly amplifying anti-Semitism through his micro-blogging site, Elon Musk is set to visit Israel on Monday (November 27) and meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog.

Quoting a Channel 12 TV report, Reuters referred to an Israeli source who has confirmed Musk’s Israel visit, which will take place amid the four-day truce in Israel’s war on Palestinians of Gaza.

The billionaire, who owns microblogging site X (formerly Twitter) triggered a major row on November 15, when he agreed with a post on X that referred to the controversial “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory. This theory essentially claims that the Jewish and leftists are spreading hatred against white people and will ultimately replace white populations through "white genocide".

Endorsing the content of the post, Musk had said the user was speaking “the actual truth”.

His endorsement of the controversial post drew sharp criticism from US President Joe Biden’s office. Calling his views an “abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate”, the White House said it “runs against our core values as Americans”.

Moving swiftly, big US conglomerates such as Apple Inc., Walt Disney, Warner Bros Discovery and NBC Universal parent Comcast withdrew advertisements from X.

British PM comes out against anti-Semitism

Meanwhile, a Bloomberg report, quoting from Sunak’s interview on Bloomberg TV on Sunday (November 26), said the British Prime Minister has came out on anti-Semetism stating that he condemns anti-Semetism "in all its forms" and also took a jibe at Musk.

It was not a complete condemnation of Musk like the US and the others have done. When asked about his views on Musk, he said, “I don't tend to get in the business of scrutinising what every single person says who I've interacted with. Of course, I abhor anti-Semitism.”

“It doesn't matter whether you're Elon Musk or you're someone on the street who's shouting abuse at someone who happens to be walking past you, that's wrong in all its forms. Anti-Semitism in all its forms is completely and utterly wrong,” Bloomberg quoted him as saying.

Anti-Semitism wave in the UK

Sunak has been dragged into this controversy over Musk because he had shared a stage with the American maverick entrepreneur at the UK's AI Safety Summit in early November. He had interviewed Musk for an hour during the course of the summit.

The British PM had even been asked to condemn Musk by an Opposition Labour Party lawmaker but Sunak had refused at that time.

Britain is witnessing a flare-up of anti-Semitism and this needs to be called out, said former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who attended a march in central London, in which thousands participated to denounce anti-Semitism on Sunday (November 26).

Sunak has however denounced anti-Semitic attacks as "unacceptable" and that the police are under orders to bring people to justice.

Earlier meeting

At the height of the controversy over anti-Semitic content in September this year, Netanyahu had flown to California to meet Musk, where he urged him to “strike a balance between protecting free expression and fighting hate speech”.

During that visit, about 200 people had staged a protest outside the venue of Netanyahu and Musk's meeting at Tesla's California factory. The protestors were against Netanyahu's government’s attempts to curb the Israeli judiciary.

Meanwhile, Musk, on his part, has denied the allegations that he is anti-Semitic. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said in a post on X on November 20.