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Jewish man sues Elon Musk for suggesting he is a white supremacist
(JTA) – A Jewish man who recently graduated college has sued billionaire Elon Musk for insinuating on his social media network, X, that the man was a member of a white supremacist group.
Ben Brody, 22, is suing Musk for libel after the tech mogul reacted repeatedly to a photo of him this summer on X, formerly known as Twitter. In a post accompanying the photo, a user on the platform speculated that Brody was (or was posing as) a member of the Rose City Nationalists, an extremist group in Portland, Oregon, with ties to white supremacists and neo-Nazis.
The photo of Brody, who graduated from the University of California, Riverside, earlier this year, was actually taken at his Jewish college fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi.
“Given his Jewish heritage, Ben was understandably horrified at being accused by Musk of donning neo-Nazi regalia, an act that would be utterly profane and blasphemous if it were true,” reads the complaint in Brody’s lawsuit, filed Monday in a district court in Austin, Texas, in the county where Musk lives. The complaint continues, “Ben has suffered severe emotional harm and enormous damage to his reputation and public image.”
The lawsuit is the latest antisemitism-related controversy on X, formerly known as Twitter, since Musk’s takeover of the platform last fall. In recent months, Musk has launched a series of attacks on the Anti-Defamation League by engaging with posts by white supremacists and claiming that an advertiser boycott spearheaded by the Jewish civil rights group has been responsible for depleting the company’s value.
In recent livestreamed meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a group of largely conservative-leaning Jews, Musk defended his record of combatting antisemitism on X while saying he was adhering to free-speech principles.
Musk frequently reacts to posts espousing conspiracy theories on his platform, and his engagement with the tweets about Brody followed a similar pattern. Following a physical altercation in Portland in June between the Rose City Nationalists and the Proud Boys, a rival right-wing extremist group, Musk asked his millions of followers to verify the identities of the group’s members caught on video.
“Who were the unmasked individuals?” he wrote on June 25. One account dug up Brody’s AEPi photo and claimed he was one of the “unmasked” members, posting the image next to a screenshot from a video of the brawl. Musk replied, “very odd” to the image.
In another instance, he replied “Always remove their masks,” to the same set of images.
After Brody posted an Instagram video seeking to clear his name and shared debit card receipts to demonstrate he was in California at the time of the incident, multiple users tried to tell Musk he had the wrong man.
“All these accusations are kind of just crazy and incorrect,” Brody said in the video, posted on June 26. “My family and I are just being harassed completely and I would be more than happy to clear up any confusion if necessary. This is just so ridiculous and I really just can’t believe this is happening to me right now.”
But Musk continued to promote the theory, writing in a follow-up post on June 27, “Looks like one is a college student (who wants to join the govt),” echoing language from a biography of Brody from his fraternity. Musk added, “a probable false flag situation,” seemingly suggesting the warring extremists were government plants.
These tweets were tantamount to libel, Brody’s suit alleges. Musk’s statements “convey a defamatory meaning” and “exposed him to public hatred, contempt and ridicule,” the suit reads. Brody seeks damages of at least $1 million and a jury trial.
The legal battle will be difficult, as Musk has already beaten one libel charge involving his tweets. In 2019 a federal jury rejected a claim brought by a British cave explorer whom Musk called a “pedo guy,” short for pedophile, after the two feuded over the best course of action for the previous year’s high-profile cave rescue of a youth soccer team in Thailand.
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The post Jewish man sues Elon Musk for suggesting he is a white supremacist appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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UN Security Council Meets on Iran as Russia, China Push for a Ceasefire
Members of the Security Council cast a vote during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the 3rd anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at UN headquarters in New York, US, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/David Dee Delgado
The U.N. Security Council met on Sunday to discuss US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites as Russia, China and Pakistan proposed the 15-member body adopt a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Middle East.
It was not immediately clear when it could be put to a vote. The three countries circulated the draft text, said diplomats, and asked members to share their comments by Monday evening. A resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, France, Britain, Russia or China to pass.
The US is likely to oppose the draft resolution, seen by Reuters, which also condemns attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites and facilities. The text does not name the United States or Israel.
“The bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities by the United States marks a perilous turn in a region that is already reeling,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Sunday. “We now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation.”
“We must act – immediately and decisively – to halt the fighting and return to serious, sustained negotiations on the Iran nuclear program,” Guterres said.
The world awaited Iran’s response on Sunday after President Donald Trump said the US had “obliterated” Tehran’s key nuclear sites, joining Israel in the biggest Western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution.
U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that while craters were visible at Iran’s enrichment site buried into a mountain at Fordow, “no one – including the IAEA – is in a position to assess the underground damage.”
Grossi said entrances to tunnels used for the storage of enriched material appear to have been hit at Iran’s sprawling Isfahan nuclear complex, while the fuel enrichment plant at Natanz has been struck again.
“Iran has informed the IAEA there has been no increase in off-site radiation levels at all three sites,” said Grossi, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran requested the U.N. Security Council meeting, calling on the 15-member body “to address this blatant and unlawful act of aggression, to condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
Israel‘s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement on Sunday that the U.S. and Israel “do not deserve any condemnation, but rather an expression of appreciation and gratitude for making the world a safer place.”
Danon told reporters before the council meeting that it was still early when it came to assessing the impact of the U.S. strikes. When asked if Israel was pursuing regime change in Iran, Danon said: “That’s for the Iranian people to decide, not for us.”
The post UN Security Council Meets on Iran as Russia, China Push for a Ceasefire first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Rejects Critical EU Report Ahead of Ministers’ Meeting
FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
Israel has rejected a European Union report saying it may be breaching human rights obligations in Gaza and the West Bank as a “moral and methodological failure,” according to a document seen by Reuters on Sunday.
The note, sent to EU officials ahead of a foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, said the report by the bloc’s diplomatic service failed to consider Israel’s challenges and was based on inaccurate information.
“The Foreign Ministry of the State of Israel rejects the document … and finds it to be a complete moral and methodological failure,” the note said, adding that it should be dismissed entirely.
The post Israel Rejects Critical EU Report Ahead of Ministers’ Meeting first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Pope Leo Urges International Diplomacy to Prevent ‘Irreparable Abyss’
FILE PHOTO: Pope Leo XIV holds a Jubilee audience on the occasion of the Jubilee of Sport, at St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican June 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yara Nardi/File Photo
Pope Leo on Sunday said the international community must strive to avoid war that risks opening an “irreparable abyss,” and that diplomacy should take the place of conflict.
US forces struck Iran’s three main nuclear sites overnight, joining an Israeli assault in a major new escalation of conflict in the Middle East as Tehran vowed to defend itself.
“Every member of the international community has a moral responsibility: to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss,” Pope Leo said during his weekly prayer with pilgrims.
“No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, the stolen future. Let diplomacy silence the weapons, let nations chart their future with peace efforts, not with violence and bloody conflicts,” he added.
“In this dramatic scenario, which includes Israel and Palestine, the daily suffering of the population, especially in Gaza and other territories, risks being forgotten, where the need for adequate humanitarian support is becoming increasingly urgent,” Pope Leo said.
The post Pope Leo Urges International Diplomacy to Prevent ‘Irreparable Abyss’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.