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Could social media really have stopped the Holocaust? Scholars say Elon Musk’s ‘fantasy scenario’ is far-fetched.
KRAKOW, Poland (JTA) — Gavriel Rosenfeld, president of the Center for Jewish History in New York City, specializes in Nazi Germany and counterfactual history — or the study of what might have happened, but didn’t.
So when Elon Musk claimed this week that the Holocaust could have been mitigated if only X, his social media platform, had existed at the time, Rosenfeld took notice.
He said Musk’s comments stood out as a textbook example of a “fantasy scenario in which history turns out better thanks to an alteration of some key variable — in this case, transporting present-day technology into the past.” Such arguments are called “Connecticut Yankee counterfactuals,” he said, in homage to the 1889 Mark Twain novel in which a contemporary man is transported to England during the reign of King Arthur.
“This fantasy is a self-serving one,” Rosenfeld told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “It enables [Musk] to switch the conversation away from his allowing right-wing antisemites to post freely on X — which have increasingly discredited his platform — by claiming it would have served a social good if — and it’s a big if — it had existed 80 years ago.”
Rabbi Menachem Margolin of the European Jewish Association, Elon Musk and right-wing pundit Ben Shapiro stand on stage at an EJA conference in Krakow, Poland, Jan. 22, 2024. (Courtesy EJA)
Rosenfeld was one of several Holocaust scholars to challenge Musk’s comments, which he said on Monday during a conversation with conservative commentator Ben Shapiro at a conference in Krakow hosted by the European Jewish Association.
Musk’s trip to Poland came as he has become embroiled in a series of antisemitism-related controversies. In November, Musk came under fire for endorsing an X post that said Jewish communities push “hatred against whites.” (The tech mogul replied, “You have said the actual truth.”) He has also threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights group, over its objections to hate speech on X. The website has seen antisemitic content spike since Musk took charge.
In his comments, Musk said X could have deterred the Nazis by making their mass murder “impossible to hide” and allowing “freedom of speech” against them.
His remarks were broadly praised during the event, which gathered European politicians and right-leaning Jewish leaders to discuss the global threat of antisemitism after Oct. 7. Among the billionaire’s most vigorous supporters was EJA Chairman Menachem Margolin — an influential European rabbi affiliated with the Chabad Hasidic movement — who asserted that X “could have saved millions of lives” during the Holocaust.
But Rosenfeld and other scholars say Musk’s imagined version of history demonstrates a misunderstanding of the genocide.
“The problem with Jews was not that they didn’t have the information, the problem was they didn’t have options,” said Doris Bergen, a Holocaust historian at the University of Toronto and scholar-in-residence at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Where were German Jews supposed to go? Who was providing refuge for elderly people, people with disabilities, and others deemed not valuable as workers?”
Bergen noted that half of Germany’s Jews — those who had the contacts and resources needed to escape the Nazi regime — actually did leave the country between 1933 and 1939. Those included Anne Frank’s family, who went to the Netherlands. But the Nazis caught up with them after occupying that country in 1940, as they did with the Jews in Poland, Hungary, France, the Soviet Union and the other nations they invaded.
“What would social media have done for these people, who in many cases were killed at the same time as the Germans invaded?” asked Bergen.
Musk argued on Monday that Nazi Germany represented the dangers of regulating speech, saying, “One of the first things the Nazis did when they came in is they shut down all the press and any means of conveying information.”
That is another inaccuracy, said Bergen, who suggested that Musk “take an intro course on the Holocaust.”
“Germany had a lot of newspapers that kept going all the way through the Nazi period,” she said. “Definitely there was pressure to conform to the ‘party line,’ but it was not so simple as controlling all the media.”
International media, including JTA, also covered what was happening in Germany and elsewhere in Europe under the Nazi regime but did not ignite adequate international concern to stop the genocide.
Christopher Browning, a Holocaust scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the author of “Ordinary Men,” about a Nazi death squad, also said information was available — but its availability was simply not enough to prevent the atrocities.
“Much about the Holocaust traces not to lack of information but unwillingness to process into knowledge,” said Browning. “Wishful thinking, denial and inability to imagine the unprecedented all played a role among victims, perpetrators, and bystanders.”
Historians have also pointed out that the Nazis were masters of using existing media to press their case against the Jews, suggesting that in this alternate universe, the Nazis might have weaponized social media as well — as countries today have been accused of doing in their internal and external conflicts.
David Myers, a professor of Jewish history at the University of California, Los Angeles, called Musk’s comments “ludicrous” and “offensive,” questioning why the owner of X overlooked his company’s power to swiftly disseminate hate and violence across the world. In fact, Myers said, social media might have made it easier for Nazis to find their local allies across Europe.
“Every day people gather online with like-minded souls to express their shared hatred for groups including Jews, Muslims, Blacks, Asians, and LGBTQ people, among others,” he said. “Moreover, these hate-mongers can receive detailed guidance online on how to carry out a massacre.”
Musk addressed the EJA conference after privately touring Auschwitz-Birkenau, a trip lauded by attendants of the conference. Margolin told JTA he believes that Musk has a better understanding of antisemitism and Jewish trauma after that visit.
A guide gives a tour of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, Jan. 23, 2024. (Shira Li Bartov)
However, an Auschwitz tour guide and Holocaust educator was skeptical of Musk’s claim that X could have deterred the Nazis. Social media only reflects the complexity of human nature at the heart of a genocide, which is what must be reckoned with, she told JTA.
“Social media works both ways,” said Agnieszka, who declined to share her last name. “It can generate really good generosity among people, make them really empathetic and loving toward others. But on the other hand, the same social media is able to gather people who are full of hatred.”
For Rosenfeld, the scholar of alternate histories, Musk’s counterfactual opened the doors to other scenarios that could have increased, not decreased, the dangers faced by European Jews.
“Given how popular opinion of the current war [in Gaza] has been decisively shaped by video footage shot on personal devices, it’s likely that the Allied war against Nazi Germany would have been more difficult to prosecute had there been daily images of German civilians being incinerated in Allied bombing raids,” he said, noting that some conservatives made this point in the 1970s about media coverage of the Vietnam War.
But all of the possibilities of the past, Rosenfeld said, are secondary to the role that Musk’s counterfactual thinking plays in the current day.
“From my perspective,” Rosenfeld said, “the key function of Musk’s counterfactual assertion is to rehabilitate his social media platform by investing it with hypothetical virtues — all the while deflecting attention away from its real world liabilities.”
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The post Could social media really have stopped the Holocaust? Scholars say Elon Musk’s ‘fantasy scenario’ is far-fetched. appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Amsterdam Mayor to Apologize to Jewish Community for City’s World War II Persecution
Mayor of Amsterdam Femke Halsema attends a press conference following the violence targeting fans of an Israeli soccer team, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Nov. 8, 2024. Photo: Reuters/Piroschka Van De Wouw
Amsterdam authorities will issue an official apology to the local Jewish community for the city’s role in the persecution of Jews during World War II at a Holocaust commemoration next week, Dutch media reported.
The city’s mayor, Femke Halsema, will deliver the formal apology on April 24, during events for Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah).
Every year, the Dutch capital commemorates Holocaust victims at Amsterdam’s Hollandsche Schouwburg theater, originally opened in 1892 and situated in the heart of the city’s Jewish quarter. In 1942, the building was repurposed by Nazi German occupiers as a collection point for Amsterdam Jews before their deportation to Westerbork transit camp and other concentration camps.
According to the Dutch news site Het Parool, Amsterdam authorities will also allocate €25 million to bolster Jewish life in the city, supporting cultural and social programs designed to help the community feel safer and freely practice their traditions.
As in many other countries across Europe, antisemitism has sharply risen in the Netherlands following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel, with incidents spiking by 800 percent in the weeks after the Palestinian terrorist organization’s atrocities.
Last year, Israeli soccer fans were violently attacked in Amsterdam after watching the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team compete against the Dutch club Ajax in a European League match. At the time, Halsema called the attackers “antisemitic hit-and-run squads” who went “Jew hunting.”
With Amsterdam’s announcement, Halsema will be the first mayor in the country to publicly apologize for and recognize a city’s role in the persecution of Jews during World War II.
The mayor’s expected apology follows an investigation by the Netherlands Institute for War, Holocaust, and Genocide Studies (NIOD) into the role of Amsterdam’s municipal services in the persecution of Jews during the Nazi occupation. Previous reports revealed that police took part in raids, the city handed over Jewish residents’ addresses to the Nazis, and municipal trams were used to transport thousands to deportation points.
In 2020, then-Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who currently serves as secretary general of NATO, issued a public apology for the Dutch government’s wartime actions.
Last year, Halsema announced the city would give up the money it received during the war for transporting Jews to deportation sites, a sum originally equivalent to about €61,000 today. The municipality rounded the amount up to €100,000 and paid it into a fund managed by the Central Jewish Consultation (CJO), which can decide how the money is used.
During World War II, the Netherlands had the highest percentage of Jewish victims in Western Europe, with three-quarters of its Jewish population being murdered.
“Better late than never,” Ronny Naftaniel, a prominent member of the Dutch Jewish community, told Het Parool. “It would be good if the apology was not just about the war, but also about the period immediately afterwards, given the cold reception that returned Jews received at the time.”
The post Amsterdam Mayor to Apologize to Jewish Community for City’s World War II Persecution first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Alleged Arsonist Targeted Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro Over Palestinian Stance, Police Say
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and the Pennsylvania State Police provide an update on the act of arson that took place at the Governor’s Residence, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, US, April 13, 2025. Photo: Commonwealth Media Services/Handout via REUTERS
The suspected arsonist who allegedly tried to kill Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro set fire to his official residence out of anger over the governor’s perceived stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to a search warrant signed by State Police.
The suspect, 38-year-old Cody Balmer, called 911 prior to the attack and accused Shapiro of orchestrating nefarious “plans” against the Palestinian people. Balmer also referred to Shapiro, who is Jewish, as a “monster,” according to the search warrant, which was obtained by the PennLive news outlet.
Balmer told emergency operators that Shapiro “will not take part in his plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people,” and demanded that the governor “stop having my friends killed.”
The suspect continued, telling operators, “Our people have been put through too much by that monster.”
Corporal Benjamin Forsythe of the Pennsylvania State Police said in a warrant to obtain Balmer’s devices that the suspect set fire to Shapiro’s residence, the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion, over the alleged ongoing “injustices to the people of Palestine” and his Jewish faith.
Shapiro’s residence was set ablaze on Sunday morning, hours after the governor hosted a gathering to celebrate the first night of the Jewish holiday of Passover. Shapiro said that he, his wife, and his children were awakened by state troopers knocking on their door at 2 am. The governor and his family immediately evacuated the premises and were unscathed.
According to police, Balmer scaled a nearly 7-foot-high security fence and evaded authorities before breaking into the governor’s mansion. The suspect was able to remain in Shapiro’s home for around a minute before throwing Molotov cocktails and escaping.
The suspect later revealed to police that he planned to beat Shapiro with a sledgehammer if he encountered him after gaining access into his residence, according to authorities.
Balmer, who was charged with eight crimes by authorities, including serious felonies such as attempted homicide, terrorism, and arson. The suspect faces potentially 100 years in jail. He has been denied bail.
Shapiro, a practicing Jew, has positioned himself as a staunch supporter of Israel. In the days following Hamas’s brutal slaughter of roughly 1,200 people across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Shapiro issued statements condemning the Palestinian terrorist group and gave a speech at a local synagogue. The governor also ordered the US and Pennsylvania Commonwealth flags to fly at half-mast outside the state capitol to honor the victims.
Shapiro has condemned protests against Israeli- and Jewish-owned businesses in Pennsylvania as “antisemitic” and resisted demands to call for a “ceasefire” in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. The governor revised the state codes of conduct to bar government employees from participating in “scandalous or disgraceful” behavior.
Shapiro’s strident support of Israel in the wake of Oct. 7 also incensed many pro-Palestinian activists, resulting in the governor being dubbed “Genocide Josh” by far-left demonstrators.
In a statement, US Attorney General Pam Bondi condemned the attack targeting Shapiro. However, Bondi did not clarify whether she plans on opening a federal case against the suspect.
“It is absolutely horrific what happened to him,” Bondi said. “We have been praying for Josh, for his family. Those photos, it was horrible. I firmly believe that they wanted to kill him. The defendant allegedly said he was going to use a hammer if he could have gotten to the governor. I’ve known the governor many, many years. It is horrible, and yes, we are working with state authorities to — it’s now a pending investigation — anything we can to help convict the person that did this and keep them behind bars as long as possible,” Bondi said.
In statements to reporters, Shapiro refused to accuse the suspect of antisemitism, saying that he would allow prosecutors to determine the motivation.
“I know that there are people out there who want to ascribe their own viewpoints as to what happened here and why. … I choose not to participate in that,” Shapiro said.
“Prosecutors will ultimately determine what motivated this. The district attorney and the Department of Justice can comment on that further,” Shapiro added.
The post Alleged Arsonist Targeted Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro Over Palestinian Stance, Police Say first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Backlash Grows in UK as Hamas Mounts Legal Challenge Against Terrorist Designation
Demonstrators hold Israeli and British flags outside the Law Courts, during a march against antisemitism, after an increase in the UK, during a temporary truce between the Palestinian Islamist terrorists Hamas and Israel, in London, Britain, Nov. 26, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Susannah Ireland
A growing wave of condemnation is mounting in the UK after lawyers representing the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas sought to challenge the organization’s terrorist designation, prompting fierce criticism from British Members of Parliament and Jewish organizations.
Last week, Hamas filed a legal petition arguing for its removal from the United Kingdom’s list of proscribed terrorist groups, describing itself as “a Palestinian Islamic liberation and resistance movement whose goal is to liberate Palestine and confront the Zionist project.”
Riverway Law submitted a claim to UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper on behalf of senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk, who also provided a witness statement in the case. Given that accepting funds from Hamas would violate British law, the firm is providing pro bono representation to the terrorist group.
“The British government’s decision to proscribe Hamas is an unjust one that is symptomatic of its unwavering support for Zionism, apartheid, occupation, and ethnic cleansing in Palestine for over a century,” the filing reads. “Hamas does not and never has posed a threat to Britain, despite the latter’s ongoing complicity in the genocide of our people.”
Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, had been banned in Britain since 2001, but the Interior Ministry broadened the ban to include the group’s political entities in 2021, arguing that Hamas functions as a unified organization rather than separate branches.
“I would be very surprised if the British government agrees to remove Hamas from the proscribed list,” Jonathan Turner, chief executive of UK Lawyers for Israel, told The Algemeiner in an exclusive interview.
“The UK is not entirely sympathetic to Israel, but it’s still very unlikely they would rule in favor of Hamas.”
In applying for removal from the list of proscribed organizations, Turner explained that Hamas does not deny being a terrorist group but rather argues that it is undesirable for it to remain banned.
In its filing, Riverway Law outlines three primary grounds for why Hamas should be removed from the terrorist list. The first argument contends that the UK’s ongoing proscription of Hamas violates international law, including the British government’s obligation not to be complicit in genocide, which Hamas claims is being perpetrated by Israel in Gaza.
Additionally, it highlights the UK’s alleged responsibility to end “the unlawful occupation of Palestinian territories,” referencing the 2024 International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion that Israel’s presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is illegal.
The second argument claims that proscribing Hamas violates the European Convention on Human Rights, particularly the rights to freedom of expression and assembly, as UK law prohibits the promotion or support of proscribed organizations. Hamas argues that this ban restricts open debate on the Palestinian issue and peaceful demonstrations, while also being discriminatory since Israel is not similarly proscribed.
The third argument asserts that the proscription is disproportionate and not sufficiently justified. Hamas argues that there is no direct threat to the UK, that its violence is a “legitimate response to occupation,” and that the proscription undermines Palestinians’ democratic will when they elected Hamas.
The terrorist group violently eliminated its Palestinian opposition in a brief conflict in 2007, when Hamas took full control of Gaza after winning legislative elections the prior year.
Turner countered that all three arguments lack merit, emphasizing that rights such as freedom of expression and assembly can be lawfully restricted under UK and international law to protect national security, public safety, and the rights or property of others.
He also pointed out that Hamas still holds 59 of the hostages abducted during its invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and that hostage-taking is a crime against humanity under international conventions.
“Hamas is a very vicious terrorist organization,” he told The Algemeiner.
Earlier this week, British Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick announced that he had reported Riverway Law attorney Fahad Ansari for supporting Hamas and jihad, as well as the firm’s potential breach of sanctions regulations.
“The legal profession is being damaged by ideologues exploiting their status to platform extremism,” Jenrick wrote in a post on the X social media platform. “This isn’t about free speech. It’s about a man who repeatedly crosses the line into open support for terrorism — all while the authorities look away.”
Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel also criticized the legal effort, calling Hamas an “evil Iranian-backed terrorist organization, which kidnaps, tortures, and murders people, including British nationals.”
More British citizens (18) were killed during the Hamas-led Oct. 7 onslaught than in any foreign terrorist attack since Al Qaeda struck the US on Sept. 11, 2001.
“They pose an ongoing threat to our security and to the peace and stability of the Middle East and have weapons and training facilities that put lives at risk and threaten our interests,” Patel said in a statement. “They show no respect for human rights, life, and dignity and have oppressed people living in Gaza for too long.”
“Those campaigning to end the proscription of Hamas fail to understand the seriousness of the threats this terrorist organization poses,” the statement read.
Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), a UK-based Jewish civil rights group, also dismissed the case as a “bad-faith attempt to promote genocidal antisemitism,” rejecting the argument that proscribing Hamas stifles political engagement. They argued that it’s still possible to campaign for Palestinian rights, criticize Israel, or support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without endorsing Hamas or terrorism.
Riverway Law’s legal challenge on behalf of Hamas came less than a month after a group of British lawmakers released a new and extensive report documenting the atrocities of the terrorist group’s Oct. 7 atrocities across southern Israel.
The report showed that, in total, about 7,000 Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists killed 1,182 people, wounded more than 4,000 others, and kidnapped 251 hostages — 210 living and 41 dead bodies at the time of their abduction — during the onslaught. The study detailed Hamas’s planning, the weapons used, and the violence which occurred at each location, including gristly details of sexual violence, torture, and the desecration of corpses.
The post Backlash Grows in UK as Hamas Mounts Legal Challenge Against Terrorist Designation first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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