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Jewish Groups to Stop Posting on X Over Musk Conduct, Antisemitism on Platform
X/Twitter owner Elon Musk. Photo: Reuters/Jaap Arriens
A coalition of Jewish organizations has announced plans to cease engagement on the social media platform X following owner Elon Musk’s apparent use of a Nazi salute-style gesture at a Jan. 20 rally following the inauguration of US President Donald Trump.
“In Jewish tradition, the prohibition on ‘lashon hara,’ or ‘evil speech,’ reminds us of words’ power to harm. The great sage Maimonides taught that even when true, speaking disparagingly of others is ‘the evil tongue.’ (Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Deot 7:2.),” the groups wrote. “Speech, whether spoken or written, can cause pain, shame, and instigate action to devastating effect. Words can also uplift and heal. They must always be chosen with care, designed to call in rather than call out, to lift up rather than tear down.”
The statement continued, “That is why, after careful consideration, we are choosing to stop actively posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, which has become rife with toxic speech. We will transition away from active engagement on X in the first quarter of 2025.”
Signatories of the statement included the Union for Reform Judaism, ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, American Conference of Cantors, Avodah, Central Conference of American Rabbis, Jewish Women’s Archive, Keshet, MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, PEP-RJ (Programming and Engagement Professionals of Reform Judaism), Reconstructing Judaism, Reform Jewish Community of Canada, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, The Shalom Center, and The Workers Circle.
“In study after study, as well as our lived experiences, X has become a platform that promotes hate, antisemitism, and societal division,” the statement read. “Under the leadership of Elon Musk, X has reduced content moderation, promoted white supremacists, and re-platformed purveyors of conspiracy theories. Musk himself has re-posted content that is antisemitic and xenophobic, promoting it to his millions of followers.”
The coalition also noted that following Hurricane Helene, which caused widespread damage across the southeastern United States in late September 2024, “elected officials and disaster response officials who happen to be Jewish were attacked in posts on X that used virulent antisemitic terms and tropes, undermining efforts to help all individuals impacted by the hurricane and diminishing trust in civic institutions.”
The statement called X “the largest purveyor of antisemitic content among the major social media platforms post-Oct. 7,” adding that “the hateful posts on X are harmful to Jews and people of all faiths and no faiths.”
Some Jewish groups signing the statement may keep their X account active rather than deleting it, in order to “ensure our handles are not assumed by other entities with values contrary to our own. But rather than contribute to the coarsening of discourse that is so pervasive on X, going forward, we will post content elsewhere.”
After receiving criticism for his alleged Nazi gesture, Musk made a series of jokes about the Holocaust in a post on his platform. “Don’t say Hess to Nazi accusations! Some people will Goebbels anything down! Stop Gőring your enemies! His pronouns would’ve been He/Himmler! Bet you did nazi that coming,” Musk wrote, concluding with a laughing emoji.
This brought a rebuke from the Anti-Defamation League, which had previously defended the billionaire and disputed that his gesture was a Nazi salute, calling it “an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm.”
“Making inappropriate and highly offensive jokes that trivialize the Holocaust only serve to minimize the evil and inhumanity of Nazi crimes, denigrate the suffering of both victims and survivors, and insult the memory of the six million Jews murdered in the Shoah,” the ADL said in a subsequent statement.
Musk also received scrutiny for a video address he delivered on Saturday at an event organized by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which, the ADL noted, includes officials who “have made antisemitic, anti-Muslim, and anti-democratic statements.”
In his speech, Musk said “there is too much focus on past guilt, and we need to move beyond that.” He also declared that “it’s good to be proud of German culture, German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything.”
Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, responded to the address on X competitor BlueSky, writing, “Musk is a shameless and unrepentant antisemite, and those who defend him only further embolden him and the neo-Nazis he so inspires.”
Halie Soifer, executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA), said that “speaking as a deeply concerned American Jew, I am deeply concerned about the security of American Jews, of Jews worldwide, given our president’s clear alignment with dangerous right-wing extremists.”
Soifer said that “the salute, the message to the AfD, the fact that he is willing to joke about the criticism he is getting, it all demonstrates that [those around Trump] are unwilling to recognize how dangerous their words and actions are. They don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt when it comes to this alignment. It has been a steady stream of signaling to right-wing extremists that they have an ally now in the White House.”
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The Gaza-Auschwitz Comparison Is a Moral Failure
British teens placed pictures of Israeli hostages seized by Hamas on the train tracks leading to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the notorious Nazi death camp. Photo: JRoots
The banner proclaiming “Palestine: the victory of the oppressed people over Nazi Zionism,” was prominently displayed behind Hamas terrorists as they forced hostage Naama Levy — whose pants were bloodied at the time of her capture — to smile in an army uniform. The goal of this image is clear: to “Nazify” Israel, whitewash Hamas’ crimes, and invert the roles of victims and oppressors. This is the essence of the Iran-backed terror group’s propaganda.
This is not merely an act of cruelty and humiliation; it is a calculated political message, designed to invert historical roles: Israel as the modern-day Third Reich, and Zionism as its ideology.
But Hamas is not alone in spreading this message. It is part of a long-standing antisemitic propaganda campaign that has gained renewed traction far beyond Gaza.
On American college campuses, in activist circles, and across social media, this rhetoric finds eager amplifiers: “Israelis are Nazis,” “Israel is genocide,” “Hamas is resistance.” Pseudo-human rights organizations, pseudo-anti-racists, and pseudo-feminists echo these slogans. At the same time, these voices remain disturbingly silent about the mass rapes, murders, and kidnappings carried out by Hamas on October 7. Their hypocrisy speaks volumes about their supposed commitment to justice and human rights.
These comparisons are not simply misguided or exaggerated; they have a double-edged effect. On one hand, they trivialize the Nazi atrocities by equating them with a contemporary conflict, tragic as it may be, that differs fundamentally in purpose and scope. On the other, they invert historical roles, casting Jews — victims of an unparalleled genocide — as today’s oppressors. This shift doesn’t necessarily deny the Holocaust outright, but distorts its meaning, drains it of its uniqueness, and repurposes it as a malleable ideological tool. The result is an assault on memory itself — on its ability to prevent the resurgence of hatred and, most urgently, the rising antisemitism witnessed since October 7, 2023.
The accusations of genocide directed at Israel are not new. They trace back to Yasser Arafat and Soviet propaganda in the 1970s, gaining momentum with each flare-up in Gaza. These claims rely on a deliberate distortion of historical facts. The Holocaust was a systematic and industrialized campaign of extermination, carried out in secrecy to annihilate an entire people. Gaza, despite its immense suffering and devastation, is the scene of a conflict between a terrorist group and a sovereign military — not an extermination effort. Comparing Gaza to Auschwitz distorts history and reduces the Holocaust to a vague, manipulable idea, undermining its status as a universal moral anchor.
This confusion does more than undermine the past; it undermines the present. The legal mechanisms designed to prevent genocide lose their potency when misused in this way. Raphaël Lemkin, who coined the term “genocide,” emphasized its specificity: the deliberate, systematic destruction of a group. By conflating the horrors of asymmetrical warfare with organized genocide, we blur the critical distinction between war and extermination. This misapplication of language is not just a semantic issue; it is a moral failure.
The issue doesn’t end with hashtags or protest slogans. It reaches the highest levels of political discourse. In 2014, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused Israel of “surpassing the Nazis in its barbarity” during Operation Protective Edge. In 2022, Mahmoud Abbas claimed Israel had committed “fifty holocausts,” and made these remarks in Berlin — the very city where the Holocaust was meticulously planned.
These statements are more than rhetorical flourishes; they trivialize the Holocaust and weaponize its memory against Israel — and, by extension, against Jews worldwide.
Why this fixation? Part of the answer lies in a broader effort to reshape the moral foundations of the postwar order. For decades, the Holocaust served as a cornerstone of postwar ethics, justifying the establishment of Israel and supporting universal human rights. Yet some now seek to replace this foundation with a new paradigm: decolonization. In this narrative, Israel is no longer the homeland of a persecuted people but the final vestige of colonialism. This reframing severs the historical connection between the Holocaust and Zionism, presenting Israel not as a resolution to Jewish history, but as a historical anomaly to be rectified.
Replacing the memory of the Holocaust with that of other struggles — even legitimate ones — poses a grave threat and betrays the spirit of “Never again,” which was meant as a universal call for vigilance, not as a pretext for contemporary hostility toward Jews. The danger of succumbing to this propaganda is not just the betrayal of historical memory, but its devastating real-world impact. The rise of antisemitism under the guise of political activism threatens the safety of Jewish communities worldwide, and chips away at the universal principles of justice and human rights.
If there is one lesson to be learned from the last 80 years, it is that antisemitism remains rife, though it now takes new forms. The latest version today hides behind the rhetoric of human rights and anti-colonialism. Israel is not the only target; Jews across the globe are under attack. Unless we confront this reality with clarity and determination, we risk allowing history to repeat itself.
Simone Rodan-Benzaquen is the Director of AJC Europe.
The post The Gaza-Auschwitz Comparison Is a Moral Failure first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Behind the Mask of ‘Pro-Peace’ Groups in Israel
A general view shows the port in Haifa, Israel, July 24, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Ilan Rosenberg
Rula Daood and Alon-Lee Green, the Israeli national directors of the Standing Together movement, were included in the Time 100 Next list for 2024 due to their extensive pacifist activities, such as the national campaign “The North Demands Peace – Deal Now.” As part of this campaign, the organization’s activists hung billboards in northern Israel with the statement “The North Demands Peace” in Arabic and Hebrew. Ironically, or perhaps tragically, one of the billboards placed at the Maxim intersection in Haifa was near a site damaged by a Hezbollah rocket last October. This area also witnessed the horrific terror suicide bombing at Maxim restaurant, co-owned by Arabs and Jews, in 2003, which killed 21 Jews and Arabs and injured 51 others.
The push for a diplomatic solution with Hezbollah for a ceasefire at any cost, without restrictions or the possibility of Israeli action for violations, indicates a lack of security awareness among Standing Together activists. Last November, northern residents, local authorities, and community forums expressed firm opposition to the proposed ceasefire agreement with Lebanon, fearing future violations by Hezbollah and the potential for a terrible massacre. This fear was reinforced when an IDF spokesman revealed Hezbollah’s plans to conquer the Galilee. Although the ceasefire was eventually signed, Hezbollah violated it within five days.
Besides calling for a ceasefire in the north, Standing Together does not address the circumstances that led to the Sword of Iron war. While they importantly call for the return of hostages to Israel, they mislead the public by claiming that “the government and media in Israel are ignoring war crimes in Gaza and claiming everything is fine.” They assert that Israel is waging a war of extermination in Gaza and that “we must not get used to killing and starving innocent Palestinians in Gaza, hundreds of rocket launches daily, or abandoning cities in the north and south.”
At a demonstration, one of the national directors held signs showing Israeli and Palestinian death tolls since the war’s beginning, citing 44,249 Palestinian deaths without specifying how many were Hamas terrorists. This figure, from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, is unsupported. According to UN data from last May, a third of those killed in Gaza were women and children. A University of Pennsylvania expert’s study suggests the ratio of killed militants to civilians is around 1:1, according to the UN’s assessment. The ratio in urban combat zones around the world is 1:9, meaning nine civilians killed for every combatant killed — and that Israel is doing far more than any other military to avoid and reduce civilian deaths.
Regarding claims of starvation in Gaza, COGAT has facilitated the entry of over a million tons of aid on 57,545 trucks since the war began. From January to July 2024, the average daily food consumption in Gaza was about 3,004 calories per person, compared to 3,540 in Europe and North America, and 2,600 in African countries. Standing Together fails to blame Hamas for systematically stealing humanitarian aid from the residents of Gaza.
Originally supported by a German organization that backs the BDS movement and opposes the IHRA‘s working definition of antisemitism, Standing Together now promotes efforts embraced by the international delegitimization campaigns against Israel. They claim the destruction of Jabalia was for revenge and ethnic cleansing, ignoring the IDF’s continued discovery of weapons and terrorists since the military campaign renewed there on October 5, 2024.
The widespread recognition of organizations like Standing Together in Israel and internationally is concerning. While supposedly promoting coexistence and peace, they spread disinformation that could lead to sanctions harming both Israeli Arabs and Palestinians in the West Bank. Their focus on blaming Israel while neglecting to name Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran as the real culprits blurs the line between victim and attacker, undermining their legitimacy as a coexistence organization.
Tom Yohay is the manager of CAMERA on Campus Israel.
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Palestinian TV: In Gaza, Robbers Ambush Humanitarian Aid Trucks, Exploit Sale of Food
Egyptian trucks carrying humanitarian aid make their way to the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, at the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Israel, May 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
While the International Criminal Court falsely accused Israel of causing “starvation as a method of war and the denial of humanitarian relief,” official Palestinian Authority (PA) TV reported who the real criminals were.
Even before the current ceasefire deal, Israel had been generously letting humanitarian aid into the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Reporting from Gaza, official PA TV explained that “robbers ambush the aid trucks” and demand “transit fees,” so that by the time the aid reaches the merchants, the prices have increased more than 10 times:
Official PA TV reporter in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza: “From the moment the traders’ trucks or the humanitarian aid trucks set out from the gate of the Kerem Shalom Crossing until they arrive at Saladin Road, they encounter several ambushes by [Palestinian] robbers.
Some pay transit fees, large sums to pass from Saladin Road to the central [Gaza Strip] … When the trucks, aid, food stamps, and food packages reach the small merchants, the citizen must cover everything that was paid from when the truck sets out until it reaches the citizen. For example, one bag of milk that was sold for 5 shekels is now sold for 55 — you know where the 45 or 50 shekels went.” [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV, Jan. 7, 2025]
Similarly, meat prices are “exorbitant,” leaving citizens unable to afford it, and instead of feeding the hungry, the food was left to spoil:
Official PA TV reporter in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza: “Certain amounts of meat have begun to enter the [Gazan] markets at exorbitant prices, which thousands may be unable to purchase, and it is likely that some of the food and meat will spoil.”
[Official PA TV, Jan. 5, 2025]
Even PA Prime Minister Muhammad Mustafa has mentioned the “unfair distribution” of the humanitarian aid in Gaza:
PA Prime Minister Muhammad Mustafa: “We are monitoring the reports regarding the involvement of several parties in the Gaza Strip in exploiting the [humanitarian] provisions and aid, and their unfair distribution.”
[Official PA TV, Jan. 10, 2025]
Throughout the war, the Hamas terror organization has neglected Gazan civilians and looked out for its own interests only.
Palestinian Media Watch has exposed that Hamas has been using civilians as human shields, stole 28% of Gazans’ salaries, and stole the aid in order to give it to its terrorists.
The author is a senior analyst at Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article was originally published.
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