After the owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, launched a harsh attack last week against the Jewish organization 'The League Against Defamation' and threatened them with a lawsuit, the Jewish organization responded vigorously. In a statement released by the organization's CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, he strongly criticized Musk in return.
"The burning issue is the well-being of the Jewish people in the face of growing anti-Semitism"
Greenblatt began by saying, "We are deeply disturbed by Elon Musk's engagement in an extremely virulent anti-Semitic campaign over the weekend on his platform; a campaign that was initiated shamelessly by a racist and promoted and advocated by individuals like white supremacist supporter Nick Fuentes, Christian Nationalist Andrew Torba, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and others."
"In the end, we saw how the campaign manifested itself in the real world, as masked men shamelessly marched in Florida last Saturday, waving flags with swastikas and calling for the condemnation of the League Against Defamation. However, the issue at hand is not the League Against Defamation or the threat of a baseless lawsuit. The burning issue is the peace and security of the Jewish people in the face of growing and strengthening anti-Semitism."
"Musk maintains contacts with these anti-Semites"
The CEO continued to accuse, "Musk maintains connections with these anti-Semites and elevates them on a pedestal, while the League Against Defamation documents a surge in threats to detonate bombs in synagogues and Jewish institutions and false reports to the police against them... All of this, alongside a dramatic surge in anti-Semitic incitement that is spreading among Jewish and non-Jewish communities alike, and extremists marching in the streets without fear, dressed in full Nazi regalia."
In conclusion, Greenblatt stated, "These events are occurring against the backdrop of the highest number of anti-Semitic incidents documented by the League Against Defamation in over 40 years - just two weeks before the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Thus, this behavior is not merely alarming or irresponsible. It is a clear and present danger and a reckless disregard. We need responsible leaders to pave the way, cease spreading hate, and step back from the abyss before it's too late."
Musk's accusations of loss of revenue and threat of a lawsuit
It should be noted that the incident began after Twitter's CEO specifically met with Greenblatt, but this led to a strong backlash from anti-Semitic users. Subsequently, Musk himself also criticized the meeting and the Jewish organization, stating that he wants to sue them.
Musk accused the organization and wrote, "From what we've heard from advertisers, it seems that the League Against Defamation is responsible for most of our revenue loss. I don't see any scenario where they are responsible for less than 10% of the company's market cap, which is $4 billion." He further explained that "advertisers avoid controversies, so all ADL needs to do to hurt our advertising revenue in the US and Europe is to raise unsubstantiated allegations. They have much less power in Asia, so our advertising revenue there is still strong."
