JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet with Elon Musk when he travels to San Francisco next week. The meeting would come despite Musk being accused of amplifying antisemitism on his social media platform and has publicly sparred with the Anti-Defamation League over the issue.
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Netanyahu will visit Silicon Valley before his trip to New York to speak at the United Nations General Assembly later this month, his office said. Sources in his office said the prime minister plans “to hold a series of meetings with leading figures in the artificial intelligence world.” In the past Netanyahu has met with Musk and was highly impressed, terming him a “genius” and “a man of vision, perhaps the greatest technological visionary of our time.”
In the past, Musk met with Netanyahu in an attempt to bring his tunnel business into Israel and build tunnels to help Israel’s transit systems.
In June, Netanyahu announced that he was setting up a team to formulate Israel’s policy on artificial intelligence after conversations with Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Netanyahu said that he wants to make Israel a world leader in AI.
The ADL has tracked massive spikes in racist, antisemitic and homophobic content and harassment since Musk bought the platform last year and restored extremist accounts banned under the previous management. The organization claims that Musk has amplified anti-Semitism on X since taking over. Musk in response claims that the ADL is leading an advertising boycott against X and has threatened to sue them for billions of dollars over their attempted boycott.
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt denied the group was leading an ad boycott of X, but warned that Musk was spreading “age-old tropes” around blaming Jews for antisemitism and “engaging online with users who are espousing antisemitism and hate.”
The Netanyahu government has apparently sided with Musk in the feud due to the antipathy of the ADL to the current Israeli regime and its progressive agenda.
In May, Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli defended Musk after the tech billionaire attacked Jewish philanthropist George Soros, drawing fire from the Foreign Ministry and the ADL.
Musk said that Soros “hates humanity” and compared the philanthropist to a comic book villain. The Foreign Ministry, the ADL and other Jewish organizations said the comments stoked antisemitism, although Foreign Minister Eli Cohen later disavowed his office’s statement.
Chikli joined the fray by coming to Musk’s defense, stating that, “As Israel’s minister who’s entrusted with combating anti-Semitism, I would like to clarify that the Israeli government and the vast majority of Israeli citizens see Elon Musk as an amazing entrepreneur and a role model.”
“Criticism of Soros – who finances the most hostile organizations to the Jewish people and the state of Israel is anything but anti-Semitism, quite the opposite!” Chikli wrote on Twitter.
“‘No single person has done more to damage Israel’s standing in the world, especially among so-called progressives, than George Soros,’ Chikli added, quoting Professor Alan Dershowitz.
Netanyahu will depart for the US for the first time since inaugurating his government last December. The Israeli premier has yet to receive an official invitation from the US administration, but President Biden is expected to meet with Netanyahu on the sidelines of the General Assembly in New York.
Musk is actually one of the only people standing up against the Evil ADL. He should actually be viewed as a hero for the Jewish people.
“ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt denied the group was leading an ad boycott of X, but warned that Musk was spreading “age-old tropes” around blaming Jews for antisemitism” oh you mean like nyt did in over 20!!!! articles [after being goaded by hate filled yaffed people]? where was adl then?
if the ADL supports something that decent people need to oppose it and visa versa it is a woke SOROS group.