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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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US Immigration Judge Rules Palestinian Columbia Student Khalil Can Be Deported
Mahmoud Khalil speaks to members of media about the Revolt for Rafah encampment at Columbia University during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza, in New York City, US, June 1, 2024. Photo: Jeenah Moon via Reuters Connect
A US immigration judge ruled on Friday that Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil can be deported, allowing President Donald Trump’s administration to proceed with its effort to remove the Columbia University student from the United States a month after his arrest in New York City.
The ruling by Judge Jamee Comans of the LaSalle Immigration Court in Louisiana was not a final determination of Khalil’s fate. But it represented a significant victory for the Republican president in his efforts to deport foreign pro-Palestinian students who are in the United States legally and, like Khalil, have not been charged with any crime.
Citing the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act, Trump-appointed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined last month that Khalil could harm American foreign policy interests and should be deported for his “otherwise lawful” speech and activism.
Comans said that she did not have the authority to overrule a secretary of state. The judge denied a motion by Khalil’s lawyers to subpoena Rubio and question him about the “reasonable grounds” he had for his determination under the 1952 law.
The judge’s decision came after a combative 90-minute hearing held in a court located inside a jail complex for immigrants surrounded by double-fenced razor wire run by private government contractors in rural Louisiana.
Khalil, a prominent figure in the anti-Israel student protest movement that has roiled Columbia’s New York City campus, was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, holds Algerian citizenship and became a US lawful permanent resident last year. Khalil’s wife is a US citizen.
For now, Khalil remains in the Louisiana jail where federal authorities transferred him after his March 8 arrest at his Columbia University apartment building some 1,200 miles (1,930 km) away. Comans gave Khalil’s lawyers until April 23 to apply for relief before she considers whether to issue a deportation order. An immigration judge can rule that a migrant cannot be deported because of possible persecution in a home country, among other limited grounds.
In a separate case in New Jersey, US District Judge Michael Farbiarz has blocked deportation while he considers Khalil’s claim that his arrest was made in violation of the US Constitution’s First Amendment protections for freedom of speech.
KHALIL ADDRESSES THE JUDGE
As Comans adjourned, Khalil leaned forward, asking to address the court. Comans hesitated, then agreed.
Khalil quoted her remarks at his hearing on Tuesday that nothing was more important to the court than “due process rights and fundamental fairness.”
“Clearly what we witnessed today, neither of these principles were present today or in this whole process,” Khalil said. “This is exactly why the Trump administration has sent me to this court, a thousand miles away from my family.”
The judge said her ruling turned on an undated, two-page letter signed by Rubio and submitted to the court and to Khalil’s counsel.
Khalil’s lawyers, appearing via a video link, complained they were given less than 48 hours to review Rubio’s letter and evidence submitted by the Trump administration to Comans this week. Marc Van Der Hout, Khalil’s lead immigration attorney, repeatedly asked for the hearing to be delayed. Comans reprimanded him for what the judge said was straying from the hearing’s purpose, twice saying he had “an agenda.”
Comans said that the 1952 immigration law gave the secretary of state “unilateral judgment” to make his determination about Khalil.
Khalil should be removed, Rubio wrote, for his role in “antisemitic protests and disruptive activities, which fosters a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States.”
Rubio’s letter did not accuse Khalil of breaking any laws, but said the State Department can revoke the legal status of immigrants who could harm US foreign policy interests even when their beliefs, associations or statements are “otherwise lawful.”
After Comans ended the hearing, several of Khalil’s supporters wept as they left the courtroom. Khalil stood and smiled at them, making a heart shape with his hands.
Khalil has said criticism of the US government’s support of Israel is being wrongly conflated with antisemitism. His lawyers told the court they were submitting into evidence Khalil’s interviews last year with CNN and other news outlets in which he denounces antisemitism and other prejudice.
His lawyers have said the Trump administration was targeting him for protected speech including the right to criticize American foreign policy.
“Mahmoud was subject to a charade of due process, a flagrant violation of his right to a fair hearing and a weaponization of immigration law to suppress dissent,” Van Der Hout said in a statement after the hearing.
The American immigration court system is run and its judges are appointed by the US Justice Department, separate from the government’s judicial branch.
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Hamas Releases Video of Israeli-American Hostage Held in Gaza
FILE PHOTO: Yael, Adi and Mika Alexander, the family of Edan Alexander, the American-Israeli and Israel Defense Forces soldier taken hostage during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, pose for a photograph during an interview with Reuters at the Alexander’s home in Tenafly, New Jersey, U.S., December 14, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Stephani Spindel/File Photo
Hamas on Saturday released a video purportedly of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, who has been held in Gaza since he was captured by Palestinian terrorists on October 7, 2023.
In the undated video, the man who introduces himself as Edan Alexander states he has been held in Gaza for 551 days. The man questions why he is still being held and pleads for his release.
Alexander is a soldier serving in the Israeli military.
The edited video was released as Jews began to mark Passover, a weeklong holiday that celebrates freedom. Alexander’s family released a statement acknowledging the video that said the holiday would not be one of freedom as long as Edan and the 58 other hostages in Gaza remained in captivity.
Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda that is designed to put pressure on the government. The war is in its eighteenth month.
Hamas released 38 hostages under a ceasefire that began on January 19. In March, Israel’s military resumed its ground and aerial campaign on Gaza, abandoning the ceasefire after Hamas rejected proposals to extend the truce without ending the war.
Israeli officials say that campaign will continue until the remaining 59 hostages are freed and Gaza is demilitarized. Hamas insists it will free hostages only as part of a deal to end the war and has rejected demands to lay down its arms.
The US, Qatar and Egypt are mediating between Hamas and Israel.
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Some Progress in Hostage Talks But Major Issues Remain, Source tells i24NEWS
Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
i24 News – A source familiar with the ongoing negotiations for a hostage deal confirmed to i24NEWS on Friday that some progress has been made in talks, currently taking place with Egypt, including the exchange of draft proposals. However, it remains unclear whether Hamas will ultimately accept the emerging framework. According to the source, discussions are presently focused on reaching a cohesive outline with Cairo.
A delegation of senior Hamas officials is expected to arrive in Cairo tomorrow. While there is still no finalized draft, even Arab sources acknowledge revisions to Egypt’s original proposal, reportedly including a degree of flexibility in the number of hostages Hamas is willing to release.
The source noted that Hamas’ latest proposal to release five living hostages is unacceptable to Israel, which continues to adhere to the “Witkoff framework.” At the core of this framework is the release of a significant number of hostages, alongside a prolonged ceasefire period—Israel insists on 40 days, while Hamas is demanding more. The plan avoids intermittent pauses or distractions, aiming instead for uninterrupted discussions on post-war arrangements.
As previously reported, Israel is also demanding comprehensive medical and nutritional reports on all living hostages as an early condition of the deal.
“For now,” the source told i24NEWS, “Hamas is still putting up obstacles. We are not at the point of a done deal.” Israeli officials emphasize that sustained military and logistical pressure on Hamas is yielding results, pointing to Hamas’ shift from offering one hostage to five in its most recent agreement.
Negotiators also assert that Israel’s demands are fully backed by the United States. Ultimately, Israeli officials are adamant: no negotiations on the “day after” will take place until the hostage issue is resolved—a message directed not only at Hamas, but also at mediators.
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