The billionaire has suggested that criticism of Israel amounts to open bigotry against Jews
The US Democratic Party has become “openly anti-Semitic,” SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has claimed, after Democrat lawmaker Rashida Tlaib called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “war criminal” during his address to Congress.
Speaking to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday evening, Netanyahu vowed – to thunderous applause from Republicans and a more muted response from Democrats – to win a “total victory in Gaza” and “fight until we destroy Hamas’ military capabilities.”
Around half of the Democratic caucuses in the House and Senate skipped the speech. Among those who attended was Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib, who held up a small sign reading “Guilty of Genocide” and “War criminal” as the Israeli prime minister spoke.
Tlaib’s protest drew condemnation from Republicans and pro-Israel Democrats. In a post on X, tech billionaire Mark Pincus wondered, “How is this part of the Dem party? Are Dem leaders denouncing?”
“People who have been lifelong Democrats refuse to accept the clear reality that the Democratic Party is rapidly becom[ing] openly anti-Semitic,” Musk replied, claiming that “This trend is accelerating, not slowing down.”
Support for Israel is typically an issue of bipartisan agreement in the US. Back in April, a bill providing $26.3 billion in assistance to the Jewish state passed the House by 366 votes to 58, after which it was sent to the Senate and combined with bills gifting tens of billions of dollars to Ukraine and Taiwan, which also passed with bipartisan support.
However, Israel’s war on Hamas has widened the rift between the Democratic Party’s establishment and progressive wings, with the latter pressing President Joe Biden to force Netanyahu into declaring an immediate ceasefire. In an apparent gesture to the progressives, Biden froze the delivery of around 1,800 2,000-pound bombs to Israel earlier this summer. However, his administration has given Israel more than 14,000 of the same bombs, as well as drone-launched missiles and $6.5 billion in other military aid, since October 7, Reuters reported last week.
Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing more than 1,100 people and taking around 250 hostages to Gaza. Israel immediately declared war on the Palestinian militant group, and has since killed nearly 40,000 people in the enclave, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Musk himself was accused of anti-Semitism back in January, when he claimed that Jewish organizations like the Anti-Defamation League push “dialectical hatred against whites.” The tech mogul apologized for the statement shortly afterwards, before embarking on a trip to Israel to meet Netanyahu, followed by a visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland.
In a press conference after meeting Netanyahu, Musk declared that Israel had “no choice” but to destroy Hamas, calling the Palestinian militant group a “poisonous regime.” In a similar briefing at Auschwitz, he declared that he had been “frankly naive” about the alleged rise of anti-Semitism in the West.
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