Elon Musk is No Antisemite but He Now Has Greater Obligations

Elon Musk is not an antisemite. Full stop.

An antisemite doesn’t rush to Israel to show his support for the Jewish state after Oct 7. An antisemite doesn’t consistently support the plight of innocent Israeli hostages still being beaten starved, raped, kidnapped and murdered by Hamas while these terrorists are given a moral free pass by much of the world starting with the United Nations. An antisemite doesn’t visit Auschwitz Birkenau with a Holocaust survivor and Rabbi Menachem Margolin, an important European Jewish leader, and then participate in a memorial at the site of the gas chambers and crematoria at Birkenau. An antisemite does not declare after that visit that in his own words he is “Jewish by Association.”

We live in a world where real antisemites and antisemitism have become the norm at storied elite universities like Columbia and Harvard. We live in a world where synagogues and Jewish day care centers are targeted in Australia. We live in a world where religious Jews on the streets of world class cities from Sydney to Toronto to Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, and New York must think twice if it safe to wear a kippah or a Star of David necklace.

We live in a world where Jew-hatred is the statecraft of Iran and where antisemites and terrorists can count on the deep pockets of some leaders in the Middle East to spread the wildfires of hatred.

Mr. Musk, in the world we live in today, you now have greater responsibilities to yourself and society. Because you are a person who redefines trailblazer and innovator, a person for whom the heavens are not too distant to dream about and reach out to on behalf of humankind, and now because you are a key member of President Trump’s new administration.

Please remember that you are not infallible. No human being is. And so, it would be prudent for you and important for the future of democracy around the world, and here in the United States, that it would be wrong to endorse a political party in Germany, which includes in its ranks people who refuse to learn from the past, who see no reason to visit a Nazi death Camp, unless it would be to mock the six million.

In a democracy, you and every other American have every right to address controversial issues, including immigration and closed borders. However, as a man who now represents all Americans, as the activist owner of the global X social media platform, and the leading proponent of maximum free speech, you also have the responsibility to take these powerful positions into account when declaring your views through word and deed.

Finally, it would be a mistake to assume that anyone criticizing you is automatically an enemy. Quite the contrary. Young people especially look to you as a visionary role model. Help them understand your ideas, ideals, and goals with clarity not only when it comes to technology and the sciences but in the domain of moral clarity.

May we all learn from and be inspired by Simon Wiesenthal’s words:

“Freedom is not a gift from Heaven. We must fight for it each and every day.”

Rabbi Marvin Hier is Emeritus Founder and CEO of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Rabbi Abraham Cooper is Director of Global Social Action of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and immediate past Chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.