WASHINGTON — The White House on Friday condemned a post Elon Musk made on X that embraced an antisemitic claim by another account that accused Jews of pushing hatred against white people.
"We condemn this abhorrent promotion of Antisemitic and racist hate in the strongest terms, which runs against our core values as Americans," White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement. "We all have a responsibility to bring people together against hate, and an obligation to speak out against anyone who attacks the dignity of their fellow Americans and compromises the safety of our communities."
On Wednesday, a user posted to X accusations that Jews push hatred of white people, saying he was "deeply disinterested in giving the tiniest s--- now about western Jewish populations," realizing that "minorities that support flooding their country don't exactly like them too much."
Musk replied to the post, "You have said the actual truth." His post garnered more than 6 million views, according to the site-provided statistics.
Later in the thread, Musk targeted the Anti-Defamation League, an organization that fights antisemitism.
"The ADL unjustly attacks the majority of the West, despite the majority of the West supporting the Jewish people and Israel," Musk wrote. "This is because they cannot, by their own tenets, criticize the minority groups who are their primary threat." Musk has criticized the ADL in the past, too.
Following Musk's initial tweet agreeing with the antisemitic claim, Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the ADL, called out the danger of promoting antisemitic theories.
"At a time when antisemitism is exploding in America and surging around the world, it is indisputably dangerous to use one’s influence to validate and promote antisemitic theories," Greenblatt posted to X with a screenshot of Musk's post.
In the White House's response to Musk's post, Bates said it was "unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie behind the most fatal act of Antisemitism in American history at any time, let alone one month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
"Like President Biden said weeks ago memorializing the victims of the Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting, the October 7 'devastating atrocity has brought to the surface painful memories left by millennia of Antisemitism;' and under his presidency 'we will continue to condemn Antisemitism at every turn," Bates continued. The Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in 2018 left 11 killed and seven injured, and was the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
Reached for comment by NBC News, X responded, "Busy now, please check back later."
On Thursday, Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, posted that the platform has been "extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination."
"There’s no place for it anywhere in the world — it’s ugly and wrong," the post continued. "Full stop."
Biden has also addressed the rise in antisemitism in recent weeks, and many American Jews have said they approve of his handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
"We must, without equivocation, denounce antisemitism," Biden said in an Oct. 20 speech. "We must also, without equivocation, denounce Islamophobia."
Since Oct. 7, Jews have experienced a dramatic rise in antisemitism. In the month since the attacks, there has been a 316% increase in antisemitic incidents in the U.S. compared to the same period in 2022, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights and advocacy group, said last month that it got nearly 800 requests for help and reports of bias incidents from Muslims across the U.S. from Oct. 7 to Oct. 24, a 182% jump from any 16-day stretch in 2022.
