ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come out in defence of tech tycoon Elon Musk after he made a gesture that looked like a Nazi salute.
The embattled PM posted on X to slam "false smears" made against Musk, dubbing him a "great friend of Israel".
Musk was making a speech to Trump supporters this week when he gave a stiff-armed Roman-style salute.
People were quick to slam him online for making a "Nazi salute", including US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who said he made a "Heil Hitler salute".
Rep Jerry Nadler, another Democrat, called it an “abhorrent gesture.”
But Musk rapidly shut down the claims - accusing his enemies of engaging in "dirty tricks" to try and smear him after the shocking moment.
He defended himself by writing: "The 'everyone is Hitler' attack is sooo tired."
Sharing a screenshot of a Wikipedia page that said he made a gesture which was "compared to a Nazi salute", Musk wrote on his platform X: "Defund Wikipedia until balance is restored!"
He added, "Since legacy media propaganda is considered a 'valid' source by Wikipedia, it naturally simply becomes an extension of legacy media propaganda!"
Today Netanyahu wrote on the social media site: "@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 simply replied: "Thank you".
He said earlier today: "The radical leftists are really upset that they had to take time out of their busy day praising Hamas to call me a Nazi."
He made the apparent gesture while speaking at the Capital One Arena in Washington DC where he was addressing Trump's supporters following the inauguration on Monday.
During the speech, he put his hand to his chest and said he felt it in his "heart", before pounding his chest with his right arm and raising it stiffly to the sky.
While speaking about his excitement at the prospect of America landing a man on Mars, he then turned his back to the audience and repeated the gesture as he faced an American flag hanging behind him.
"It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured," he told the gathered supporters.
The Anti-Defamation League, an international non-governmental organization that fights antisemitism, bigotry, and discrimination, gave a cautious response to the gesture.
"This is a delicate moment," it wrote on X. "It’s a new day and yet so many are on edge. Our politics are inflamed, and social media only adds to the anxiety.
"It seems that Elon Musk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute, but again, we appreciate that people are on edge.
"In this moment, all sides should give one another a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt, and take a breath. This is a new beginning. Let’s hope for healing and work toward unity in the months and years ahead."
Musk responded to the ADL's statement, writing simply "Thanks guys," alongside a laughing-crying emoji.
The SpaceX boss visited Israel weeks after the horrific October 7 slaughter in November 2023.
Hamas terrorists had killed some 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals in a gruesome assault.
Israel in turn launched a devastating invasion of the Gaza Strip which has so far killed over 46,000 Palestinians, authorities inside the enclave say.
He met with the families of hostages and Israeli president Isaac Herzog.
However, on November 15 he came under fire for agreeing with a post on X that said Jewish people were stirring up hatred against white people.
The poster was spouting the "Great Replacement" far-right conspiracy theory - which states that Jewish people and leftists are engineering a "white genocide" to replace white populations with non-white immigrants.
Musk said they were speaking "the actual truth".
The White House - under Biden at the time - criticised him for the "abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate" that "runs against our core values as Americans".
ELON MUSK is the CEO of Tesla Motors, SpaceX, founder of The Boring Company, and co-founder of Neuralink and open AI
Fun Facts
SpaceX
SpaceX was founded by Elon Musk in 2002
The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler or Sieg Heil salute, was used as a common greeting in Germany under the Third Reich.
It was originally based on the so-called Roman salute and was adopted by the Italian Fascist Party, whose leadership under Benito Mussolini was a major inspiration to Adolf Hitler.
Its use is illegal in several countries today, including Germany, Austria, and Slovakia.
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