Netanyahu addresses Nazi salute controversy, calls Musk’s criticism unfounded

Three days after Elon Musk sparked controversy with a gesture resembling a Nazi salute, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has addressed the incident for the first time, expressing his support for Musk, News.az reports citing foreign media.

"Elon Musk is being falsely smeared," Netanyahu wrote in a tweet on the X platform, owned by Musk, who is close to U.S. President Donald Trump and is considered one of his senior advisers. About 20 minutes later, Musk retweeted Netanyahu's comment and added "Thank you."

The prime minister wrote that "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."

After the storm around his hand gesture, Musk hit back against his attackers: "Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The “everyone is Hitler” attack is sooo tired."

After Trump's inauguration, Musk rose to speak, and was filmed making a gesture reminiscent of the Nazi raised hand salute at the end of his remarks. Many were shocked by the disturbing "gesture" and accused Musk of fascism and antisemitism, with some even claiming that "now the real Musk is starting to emerge."

On the other hand, Musk's supporters, now joined by Netanyahu, offered a host of arguments in his defense, ranging from "he actually intended to do the Roman handshake" to "he is diagnosed with Asperger's and was unable to control his emotions." Others suggested that this was simply an innocent gesture stemming from excitement and related to the last sentence that Musk said in his speech: "My heart goes out to you."

News.Az