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Since Musk bought the social network X, formerly Twitter, in 2022, his statements and associations with ideas and figures promoting antisemitic rhetoric have rattled Jewish communal watchdogs.
By RON KAMPEAS/JTA DECEMBER 20, 2024 23:39
Elon Musk and the Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) (illustrative).
(photo credit: Canva, Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters, SHUTTERSTOCK)
(JTA) — Elon Musk endorsed a far-right German political party, the latest in a series of posts by the billionaire to draw accusations of catering to antisemites.
Musk, one of the world’s richest people and an influential adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, shared a post on his social network, X, on Friday morning by a right-wing German influencer commenting on the recent collapse of Germany’s government. The post excoriated the leader of the Christian Democratic Union, a Conservative party, for saying he would not form a coalition with the far-right Alternative for Germany, known as AfD.
“Only the AfD can save Germany,” Musk wrote.
Musk, who spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to support Trump’s successful bid to return to the White House, is poised to take a leading role in reshaping the US government under the president-elect’s administration. His public comments this week played a key role in tanking a bipartisan deal to avert a government shutdown, and he has been appointed to co-lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, planning massive cuts to federal spending.
The AfD, which increased its vote share in European Union elections earlier this year, is known in Germany for its embrace of far-right politics, including anti-Muslim rhetoric and a pro-Russian and anti-EU stance. Some of its politicians have also downplayed the Holocaust. A German Jewish leader said the party’s success in the June elections “should give all democratic forces pause.”
Fines for the AfD leadership
German courts have fined one of its leaders, Björn Höcke, multiple times for using the Nazi era phrase, “Alles für Deutschland,” or Everything for Germany.
In the video Musk quoted, the influencer, Naomi Seibt, said that the Christian Democratic Union’s Friedrich Merz had rejected the far-reaching government spending cuts favored by AfD, as well as Argentine President Javier Milei and Musk himself.
Bill Kristol, the Jewish anti-Trump conservative, wrote in response, “Musk endorses German neo-Nazi party.” Nadav Pollak, a former fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, wrote, “The AfD is one of the most extreme right parties in Europe, with many German political figures indicating it has connections to Nazism. This is completely messed up.”
Since Musk bought the social network X, formerly Twitter, in 2022, his statements and associations with ideas and figures promoting antisemitic rhetoric have rattled Jewish communal watchdogs. He has allowed back to the platform some of its most extreme right-wing users, including Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. He has expressed support for Israel and said he regrets amplifying antisemitic posts but also has threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League for tracking extremist rhetoric on X.
Most recently, Musk endorsed an interview conducted by Tucker Carlson of the economist Jeffrey Sachs, in which Sachs said “Israel has driven so many American wars” and that the US “gave over the Middle East foreign policy to Israel a long time ago, not to US interest, but to Israel’s interest. That is the Israel lobby, and we don’t hear questioning of this at all.” Earlier this year, Carlson, a far-right commentator, interviewed and praised a Holocaust denier.
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