Washington, DC – After Elon Musk made an obvious Nazi salute at the inaugural rally for the President of the United States Donald TrumpThe Anti-Defamation League (ADL) rushed to the defense of the SpaceX founder.
The self-described anti-Semitism watchdog and “world’s leading anti-hate organization” dismissed Musk’s raised hand as “an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm” on social media publish on Monday.
Months earlier, however, Jonathan Greenblatt, head of the staunchly pro-Israel ADL, compared Palestinian keffiyeh to the Nazi swastika.
Activists say the difference between the ADL’s hasty defense Musk and its efforts to demonize Palestinians and their supporters show that the group is more focused on silencing voices critical of Israel than fighting anti-Semitism.
“The ADL is crystal clear about where it stands,” said Beth Miller, political director of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).
“They made it clear that they are not a reputable source of information when it comes to anti-Semitism. They don’t really prioritize the protection of Jewish communities at all.”
Miller called the ADL a “hate group” dedicated to smearing Palestinian rights advocates.
For years, the ADL has been a non-governmental organization that reaches out to government agencies and the corporate world when it comes to anti-Semitism, hate crimes and more. civil rights issues.
The group hosted top Israeli and American politicians, FBI directors, celebrities and business people.
The group’s annual “audit” of anti-Semitic incidents in the US — which last year included “certain expressions of opposition to Zionism as well as support for resistance against Israel” — is frequently cited by government agencies and lawmakers.
Still, Palestinian rights supporters and US-based Muslim groups have long sounded the alarm about the ADL and its staunch support for Israel.
In recent years, the group has come under increased criticism for being perceived as pandering to right-wing figures accused of bigotry, as long as they support Israel.
Those accusations escalated after Musk’s gesture on Monday.
“Just to be clear, you are defending the Heil Hitler salute that was performed and repeated for emphasis and clarity,” progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez he wrote on social media in response to the ADL’s defense of Musk.
“People can now officially stop listening to you as any reputable source of information.”
Just to be clear, you are defending the Heil Hitler salute which was performed and repeated for emphasis and clarity.
People can now officially stop listening to you as any reputable source of information. You work for them. Thank you for making it crystal clear to everyone. https://t.co/0gLdMCU3UV
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 21, 2025
Musk’s gesture
While speaking at Capital One Arena after Trump’s inauguration, Musk placed a hand on his chest and then quickly raised his hand as he thanked the crowd for electing the Republican president.
The 53-year-old billionaire then turned around and did it again.
His movement resembled the Nazi gesture — known as “Sieg Heil,” German for “hail victory” — which has roots in ancient Roman greeting.
“My heart is with you. Thanks to you, the future of civilization is secured,” Musk said.
While it’s not uncommon for politicians to extend their hands to greet an audience, the combination of Musk’s rhetoric about “civilization” and the repeated gesture raised many eyebrows.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a New York University history professor who writes on fascism and authoritarianism, said in a social media post that Musk’s gesture was a “Nazi salute — and a very belligerent one at that.”
Musk did not elaborate on what happened, but dismissed the allegations, saying his critics “need better dirty tricks.”
“The ‘everyone’s a Hitler’ attack is so tired,” Musk wrote on X. He later shared a post showing Democratic politicians with their hands up and dismissing legacy media as “pure propaganda.”
But Matan Arad-Neeman, a spokesman for IfNotNow, a Jewish progressive group, dismissed Musk’s apparent denial.
“I come from a Holocaust survivor background and I know a Nazi salute when I see one, and that’s absolutely what Elon Musk was doing,” Arad-Neeman told Al Jazeera.
He added that the ADL’s defense of Musk was “obscene.” He compared the group’s response to its reaction to anti-war protesters demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, where Israel has been waging a devastating military campaign since 2023.
“It’s not surprising — though shameful — that the ADL has spent recent years focusing its attention on encouraging the suppression of Palestinian human rights protesters and anti-war protesters,” Arad-Neeman said.
ADL-Musk feud
The ADL’s support for Musk would have been unthinkable less than a year and a half ago, when the entrepreneur is a billionaire threatened to sue a pro-Israel group over allegations that it blocked businesses from advertising on Xu after he took over the platform.
Musk’s attacks, described by the ADL as “dangerous and deeply irresponsible,” were also seen by critics as anti-Semitic. Some have criticized Musk for blaming the Jewish group for the shortcomings of his new company.
But weeks after accusing X of “exalting” anti-Semitism, the ADL welcomed what it called the platform’s “intent” to address anti-Semitism.
In October 2023, Greenblatt described Musk as an “incredible entrepreneur and extraordinary innovator”, comparing him favorably to pioneering industrialist Henry Ford, who is believed to have held anti-Semitic views.
Even after Musk and the ADL appeared to bury the hatchet, the owner of X answered to a post accusing Jewish communities of promoting “dialectical hatred” against whites, writing: “You spoke the real truth.”
Musk visited Israel in November of that year, weeks into the war on Gaza, and met with the country’s leaders.
Arad-Neeman said bigots should not be able to “dismiss their anti-Semitism” by saying they support Israel.
“It is unacceptable,” he told Al Jazeera. “It is offensive to the vast majority of American Jews who are terrified of such people Proud boyspeople like Elon Musk, people like Donald Trump pandering to white supremacists and fascists.”
In addition to his comments about the Jewish people, Musk has expressed support for far-right groups around the world.
Last month he sparked outrage when he said that only Germany’s far-right party, the AfD, could save the country.
Musk also stood up for a British anti-Muslim campaigner Tommy Robinsonwho is in prison for contempt of court as part of defamation proceedings. The court found that Robinson had falsely accused a Syrian refugee boy of attacking “young English women”.
The ADL recently denounced Robinson, whose legal name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, as an “anti-Muslim bigot.”
‘Censoring our speech’
Abed Ayoub, executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), said he would like the ADL to extend the same careful approach and benefit of the doubt it offered Musk to members of the Arab and Muslim communities.
“This organization has a history of censoring our speech and attacking our speech and our freedom of expression, and it has made life difficult for many Arabs, Palestinians, Muslims and our supporters in this country,” Ayoub told Al Jazeera.
The ADL opposed a proposed mosque in New York in 2010 for being close to the site of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, siding with far-right and Islamophobic groups.
The group admitted more than a decade later that its position on the mosque was “wrong”.
Recently, the ADL accused protesters who support Palestinian rights — including left-wing Jewish groups — of promoting anti-Semitism.
Earlier this month, the ADL published a Jewish insider story on its website that criticized CBS News for interviewing Josh Paul and Hall Rharrittwo former US officials who quit their government jobs to protest Washington’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza.
The article highlighted the unclear connection that Paul and Rharrit have to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a civil rights group.
Last year, Greenblatt harshly criticized members of then-President Joe Biden’s administration for meeting with them Osama Siblanipublisher of the Michigan-based Arab American News, for what he called “sympathy” for Hezbollah and Hamas.
The ADL has also been an uncompromising supporter of Israel’s war on Gaza, which human rights groups and United Nations advocates have described as as genocide.
Ayoub said it’s easy to get behind the ADL’s “mission on paper”: to fight hate and bigotry. But more and more people are becoming aware of the group’s real positions, he added.
“We’re starting to see a crack in their support and we’re starting to see people calling them out, especially on things like defending Elon Musk at the rate they’ve been doing it,” Ayoub told Al Jazeera.
The ADL did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment by the time of publication.
On Tuesday, Bend the Arc, a progressive Jewish group, began circulating a petition urging the ADL to withdraw its defense of Musk.
“The ADL claims to be an expert on anti-Semitism,” the petition reads.
“They are quick to vilify pro-Palestinian students, black and brown elected officials, writers and professors on accusations of anti-Semitism. But when the richest man in the world gave a Nazi salute while the world watched, they stood up for him?”
