Elon Musk Suspends Users for Anti-Semitic Language
Tesla, X, formerly known as Twitter and SpaceX’s CEO Elon Musk attends the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in Bletchley, Britain on November 1, 2023. — Reuters
Elon Musk yielded to White House pressure and big Brands, announcing on Saturday via his social media platform X that users employing the anti-Semitic slogan “from the river to the sea” and the term “decolonisation” will face suspension. Musk expressed concern that these expressions foster increased animosity towards Jews.
In a reposted tweet, Musk reiterated his belief that the term decolonization, “necessarily implies a Jewish genocide, thus it is unacceptable to any reasonable person.”
He stated, “Clear calls for extreme violence are against our terms of service and will result in suspension.” The slogan “from the river to the sea” is associated with Palestinian aspirations for the liberation of occupied territories from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.
White House and Brands Backlash Led to Decisive Action
Earlier, on Wednesday, Musk appeared to endorse an anti-semitic post by user @breakingbaht alleging that “Jewish communities have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.” In response, Musk posted, “You have spoken the actual truth.”
The move comes after Musk was heavily criticized by the White House for backing an anti-Semitic post on Wednesday, which resulted in leading brands to pause advertisements on X.
In a related development, Musk received backlash from pro-Israel tycoons, leading to decisive action. IBM, Disney, Lionsgate, and the European Union withdrew ads from X. According to a report in Axios, Apple also halted advertising on the platform,
Notably, this slogan originated in 1964 when the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) called for a single state to encompass its historic territories under Yasser Arafat’s leadership.
However, this proposition was never accepted and more than 750,000 Palestinians were instead driven from their homes in what became known as the Nakba, or the “catastrophe”.
The slogan asserts Palestinians’ right to their land, highlighting their struggle against Israel’s atrocities since its occupation of Palestine.
Nevertheless, as they maintain that the land is rightfully theirs based on their scriptures, the West and Israel believe the use of these phrases and words to be anti-Semitic statements.
