Twitter owner Musk accused of encouraging antisemitic rhetoric with Soros posts

Twitter owner Elon Musk has been accused of encouraging antisemitic rhetoric on his social media platform after he tweeted that philanthropist George Soros “hates humanity” and that he reminds him of Marvel’s X-Men character Magneto.

Just like 92 year-old Soros, the fictional villain Magneto is a Holocaust survivor.

Brian Krassenstein, a Jewish journalist, had raised concerns about Musk’s tweet comparing Soros with Magneto.

He wrote that “Magneto’s experiences during the Holocaust as a survivor shaped his perspective as well as his depth and empathy,” and also that Soros “gets attacked nonstop for his good intentions which some Americans think are bad merely because they disagree with [his] political affiliations.”

But Musk responded, “You assume they are good intentions. They are not. He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity.”

On Wednesday former Labour minister David Miliband condemned Musk’s comments. He tweeted:”This is totally disgusting. ⁦@elonmusk should retract.

“It occurs as British Conservatives are told that the problem with the Nazis was that they ‘mucked up’ the case for nationalism. This normalisation of the heinous is a disgrace.”

Israeli’s foreign ministry’s official Twitter account noted how Musk’s tweet “immediately led to antisemitic conspiracy theories on Twitter.”

It added:”The phrase ‘The Jews’ spiked today on the list of topics trending on Twitter following a tweet with antisemitic overtones by none other than the owner and CEO of the social network, Elon Musk.”

Anti-Defamation League chief executive Jonathan Greenblatt also called Musk’s remark “dangerous” and encouraging to anti-Jewish extremists.

Soros has long been a target of right-wingers who highlight his backing progressive causes and politicians in the United States and worldwide. 

He was forced into hiding as a Jewish teenager in Nazi-occupied Hungary but has subsequently come under sustained attack for his wealth, religious background, and Open Society Foundations he set up to promote causes.