Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a post on microblogging site X (formerly Twitter) said that Tesla CEO Elon Musk “is being falsely smeared”. Responding to a Musk’s tweet where he wrote that “the radical leftists are really upset that they had to take time out of their busy day praising Hamas to call me a Nazi,” Netanyahu stated that “Elon is a great friend of Israel” and has “repeatedly and forcefully supported Israel’s right to defend itself against genocidal terrorists”.
The controversy erupted on Monday when Musk, addressing a crowd of Trump supporters at the Capital One Arena in Washington DC, raised his arm in a gesture that some interpreted as a Nazi salute. He said “This was no ordinary victory. This was a fork in the road of human civilization.” Expressing his gratitude, he added “Elections come and go, but this one really mattered. Thank you for making it happen! Thank you” while thumping his right hand over his heart and extending his arm upward with his palm facing downward and fingers pressed together.
Here’s what Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu wrote
Netanyahu wrote “.@elonmusk is being falsely smeared. Elon is a great friend of Israel. He visited Israel after the October 7 massacre in which Hamas terrorists committed the worst atrocity against the Jewish people since the Holocaust. He has since repeatedly and forcefully supported Israel’s right to defend itself against genocidal terrorists and regimes who seek to annihilate the one and only Jewish state. I thank him for this.”
Musk responded to Netanyahu’s post with a “Thank you”.