The social media platform, X, (formerly Twitter), will be forced to sue the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for defamation, X owner, Elon Musk, wrote in in post on the platform Tuesday morning.
The announcement comes on the heels of a report from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Musk had promoted a hashtag launched by Irish white nationalist and self-described “raging antisemite,” Keith Woods.
Wood’s hashtag, #BanTheADL, calls to ban the ADL from X.
“To clear our platform’s name on the matter of anti-Semitism, it looks like we have no choice but to file a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League … oh the irony!” Musk wrote.
To clear our platform’s name on the matter of anti-Semitism, it looks like we have no choice but to file a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League … oh the irony!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2023
In the first few hours of the post being on X, it had accumulated nine million views, over a hundred thousand “likes,” thousands of “retweets” and nearly ten thousand comments, an overwhelming proportion of which were positive.
ANTI-DEFAMATION League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt speaks during an ADL summit in New York City in November. He has criticized The New York Times for its depiction of the ultra-Orthodox. (credit: JEENAH MOON/REUTERS)Several hours earlier, Musk had posted, “To be super clear, I’m pro free speech, but against anti-Semitism of any kind.”
To be super clear, I’m pro free speech, but against anti-Semitism of any kind
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 4, 2023
Additional Tweets from Musk attacking the ADL
More posts from Musk on the subject were quick to follow.
First, Musk shared an article from August of this year from Tablet, an online Jewish magazine. The article similarly castigated the ADL and other prominent Jewish organizations such as the Jewish Council for Public Affairs for making an ally out of Black American leader, Al Sharpton despite his apparent history of antisemitism. For instance, the article notes Sharpton’s involvement in anti-Jewish riots in Crown Heights in 1991 by the neighborhood’s Black population.
The article lambasts Sharpton, labeling him as “America’s only living pogrom leader.”
The Tablet article goes on to sharply condemn the ADL, and specifically ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt for tarnishing the organization’s reputation and, seemingly deliberately, misrepresenting antisemitism in America.
Next, Musk shared an NPR article from 2009 that highlights the work of Israeli filmmaker, Yoav Shamir.
This article likewise addresses the ADL, reporting that Shamir was unable to get concrete evidence from ADL staffers despite “their claims of a sharp spike in North American anti-Semitism.”
Additionally, the article notes that Shamir was “shocked that American scholars Stephen M. Walt and John Mearsheimer have been labeled as anti-Semites for suggesting that the influence of pro-Israel lobbyists — the ADL prominent among them — is good for neither Israel nor the United States.”
Comments are closed.