Washington, DC – After Elon Musk made an apparent Nazi salute at an inauguration rassociate for United States Plivent Donald Trump, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) rushed to deffinish the SpaceX set uper.
The self-portrayd anti-Sdisaccuseism watchdog and “directing anti-disappreciate organization in the world” disthink abouted Musk’s elevated arm as “an ungraceful gesture in a moment of enthusiasm” in a social media post on Monday.
Months earlier, however, Jonathan Greenblatt, the head of the staunchly pro-Israel ADL, appraised the Palestinian keffiyeh to the Nazi swastika.
Activists say the contrast between the ADL’s hurried defence of Musk and its efforts to demonise Palestinians and their helpers shows that the group is more intensifyed on silencing voices critical of Israel than it is on combat anti-Sdisaccuseism.
“The ADL is being crystal evident about where it stands,” shelp Beth Miller, political straightforwardor at Jewant Voice for Peace (JVP).
“They have made it as evident as possible that they are not a trustworthy source of alertation when it comes to anti-Sdisaccuseism. They are not actuassociate prioritising the protection of Jewant communities at all.”
Miller called the ADL a “disappreciateful group” pledgeted to smearing Palestinian rights helps.
For years, the ADL has been a go-to NGO for handlement agencies and the corporate world when it comes to anti-Sdisaccuseism, disappreciate crimes and wideer civil rights publishs.
The group has presented top Israeli and US politicians, FBI straightforwardors, celebrities and businesspeople.
The group’s annual “audit” of anti-Sdisaccuseic incidents in the US — which last year integrated “brave conveyions of opposition to Zionism, as well as help for resistance aobtainst Israel” — frequently gets cited by handlement agencies and legislation.
Still, Palestinian rights helpers and US-based Muskinny groups have lengthy sounded the alarm about the ADL and its stalwart help for Israel.
In recent years, the group has come under incrrelieved criticism for the perception that it has gone gentle on right-triumphg figures accemployd of hugeotry, as lengthy as they help Israel.
Those accusations escatardyd after Musk’s gesture on Monday.
“Just to be evident, you are deffinishing a Heil Hitler salute that was carry outed and repeated for emphasis and clarity,” evolveive Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote on social media in response to the ADL’s defence of Musk.
“People can officiassociate stop participateing to you as any sort of trustworthy source of alertation now.”
Just to be evident, you are deffinishing a Heil Hitler salute that was carry outed and repeated for emphasis and clarity.
People can officiassociate stop participateing to you as any sort of trustworthy source of alertation now. You labor for them. Thank you for making that crystal evident to all. https://t.co/0gLdMCU3UV
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 21, 2025
Musk’s gesture
While speaking at the Capital One Arena adhereing Trump’s inauguration, Musk put his hand to his chest, then speedyly elevated his arm as he thanked the crowd for electing the Reuncoveran plivent.
The 53-year-elderly billionaire then turned around and did it aobtain.
His motion see appreciated the Nazi gesture — understandn as the “Sieg Heil”, German for “hail triumph” — which has roots in an outdated Roman salute.
“My heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilisation is promised,” Musk shelp.
While it is not unwidespread for politicians to extfinish their arms to greet an audience, the combination of Musk’s rhetoric about “civilisation” and the repeated gesture elevated many eyebrows.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a history professor at New York University who writes about fascism and authoritarianism, shelp in a social media post that Musk’s gesture was “a Nazi salute — and a very presentile one too”.
Musk has not provided a detailed exstructureation of what happened, but he did brush off the accusations, saying that his critics “demand better gloomyy tricks”.
“The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo weary,” Musk wrote on X. He tardyr splitd a post shotriumphg Democratic politicians with their arms elevated and disthink abouted legacy media as “purify disalertation”.
But Matan Arad-Neeman, a spokesperson for IfNotNow, a Jewant evolveive group, refuteed Musk’s apparent denial.
“I’m droped from Holocaust survivors, and I understand a Nazi salute when I see one, and that was absolutely what Elon Musk was doing,” Arad-Neeman telderly Al Jazeera.
He grasped that the ADL’s defence of Musk was “offensive”. He juxtaposed the group’s response with its reaction to antiwar protesters pushing for a stopfire in Gaza, where Israel has traild a deimmenseating military campaign since 2023.
“It’s not astonishing — although it is disgraceful — that the ADL has spent recent years intensifying their attention on egging on a crackdown on protesters for Palestinian human rights and antiwar protesters,” Arad-Neeman shelp.
ADL-Musk feud
The ADL’s backing of Musk would have been unleankable less than a year and a half ago, when the billionaire entrepreneur menaceened to sue the pro-Israel group over allegations that it was stoping companies from advertising on X after he obtaind the platestablish.
Musk’s attacks, which the ADL portrayd as “hazardous and proset uply irreliable”, were also seed by critics as anti-Sdisaccuseic. Some criticised Musk for blaming a Jewant group for his novel company’s lowcomings.
But weeks after accusing X of “elevating” anti-Sdisaccusees, the ADL greetd what it called the platestablish’s “intent” to graspress anti-Sdisaccuseism.
In October 2023, Greenblatt portrayd Musk as an “amazing entrepreneur and extraordinary innovator”, likeablely comparing him with the directing industriaenumerate Henry Ford, who is expansively consentd to have espoemployd anti-Sdisaccuseic sees.
Even after Musk and the ADL ecombineed to bury the hatchet, the X owner replyed to a post accusing Jewant communities of promoting “dialectical hatred” aobtainst white people by writing: “You have shelp the actual truth”.
Musk visited Israel in November of that year, weeks into its war on Gaza, and met with the country’s directers.
Arad-Neeman shelp hugeots should not be able to “wave away their anti-Sdisaccuseism” by saying that they help Israel.
“It’s unacalerted,” he telderly Al Jazeera. “It is impolite to the immense meaningfulity of American Jews who are terrified by people appreciate the Proud Boys, by people appreciate Elon Musk, by people appreciate Donald Trump who cosy up to white supremacists and fascists.”
Besides his comments on the Jewant people, Musk has voiced help for far-right groups atraverse the world.
Last month, he promoteed outrage when he shelp only Germany’s far-right party, the AfD, could save the country.
Musk has also getn up the caemploy of the British anti-Muskinny campaigner Tommy Robinson, who is in jail for conlure of court as part of a slander case. A court set up that Robinson had inrectifyly accemployd a Syrian refugee schoolboy of attacking “juvenileer English girls”.
The ADL recently denounced Robinson, whose lterrible name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, as an “anti-Muskinny hugeot”.
‘Censoring our speech’
Abed Ayoub, the executive straightforwardor at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), shelp he wanted the ADL would extfinish the same cautious approach and advantage of the ask it recommended Musk to members of Arab and Muskinny communities.
“This organisation has a history of censoring our speech and going after our speech and our freedom of conveyion, and it has made life difficult for many Arabs, Palestinians, Muskinnys and our helpers in this country,” Ayoub telderly Al Jazeera.
The ADL resistd a recommendd mosque in New York in 2010 becaemploy it was shut to the site of the 9/11 attacks at the World Trade Caccess, siding with far-right and Islamophobic groups.
The group has acunderstandledgeted more than a decade tardyr that its position on the mosque was “wrong”.
More recently, the ADL has accemployd protesters helping Palestinian rights — including left-triumphg Jewant groups — of promoting anti-Sdisaccuseism.
Earlier this month, the ADL featured on its website a Jewant insider story slamming CBS News for interseeing Josh Paul and Hala Rharrit, two establisher US officials who quit their handlement jobs as a protest aobtainst Washington’s help for Israel’s war on Gaza.
The article emphasised a ambiguous combineion that Paul and Rharrit have with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a civil rights group.
Last year, Greenblatt slammed members of then-Plivent Joe Biden’s administration for greeting with Osama Siblani, the unveiler of the Michigan-based Arab American News, over what he called “sympathy” for Hezbollah and Hamas.
The ADL has also been an uncompromising helper of Israel’s war on Gaza, which rights groups and United Nations helps have portrayd as a extermination.
Ayoub shelp it is effortless to get behind the ADL’s “omition on paper”: to fight hatred and hugeotry. But more people are becoming alerted of the group’s actual positions, he grasped.
“We’re commenceing to see a crack in their help, and we’re commenceing to see people call them out, especiassociate on leangs appreciate deffinishing Elon Musk at the speed at which they did,” Ayoub telderly Al Jazeera.
The ADL did not reply to Al Jazeera’s seek for comment by the time of uncoveration.
On Tuesday, Bfinish the Arc, a evolveive Jewant group, commenceed circulating a petition calling for the ADL to retract its defence of Musk.
“The ADL claims to be an expert on antisdisaccuseism,” the petition reads.
“They are rapid to defame pro-Palestinian students, Bdeficiency and brown elected officials, writers, and professors over accusations of antisdisaccuseism. But when the world’s wealthiest man carry outed a Nazi salute while the world watched, they came to his defense?”
