ADL under fire for condoning Musk’s “Nazi” salute

JTA – Hours after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, many Jewish groups sounded the alarm when Elon Musk appeared twice to deliver a Nazi salute at the presidential parade.

But the Jewish group most famous for fighting antisemitism had a different take.

“It seems that Elon Musk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute,” the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) wrote on 20 January in a statement on Musk’s own social media platform X, referring to Musk’s outstretched-arm that came as he was thanking his supporters.

“In this moment, all sides should give one another a bit of grace,” the ADL said, “perhaps even the benefit of the doubt, and take a breath. This is a new beginning.”

Musk replied, “Thanks guys,” adding a laughing emoji.

Others were less grateful for the ADL’s response. A range of groups on the left have long opposed the ADL for what they say is an improper focus on policing pro-Palestinian speech and advocating for Israel, and they criticised the group’s reaction to Musk’s gesture. But they were joined by others who have aligned in the past with the ADL, including pro-Israel group Zioness, which said it “vehemently disagreed with ADL’s take on Elon Musk’s behaviour today”.

“When we see what is clearly a Nazi salute – without apology or clarification – we must unequivocally call it out. Organisations committed to fighting antisemitism must do so no matter where on the political spectrum it comes from,” the New York Jewish Agenda, a progressive group that has collaborated with the ADL, wrote on X. “If we can’t, we’re not ready for what’s coming.”

At a time when the ADL itself has documented historic levels of antisemitism, how did it decide to give the world’s richest man the benefit of the doubt? The group declined to say.

The statement also raised questions among many about how the ADL planned to fight antisemitism during the second Trump administration, when a growing number of people in the president’s inner circle, including Musk, have track records that include rhetoric and actions the ADL usually condemns. Shortly after defending Musk, the group condemned Trump’s decision to pardon the 6 January rioters, a group that included members of far-right extremist groups, and also praised his newly sworn-in secretary of state, Marco Rubio.

The ADL’s own former director, Abraham Foxman, wrote on X that he considered Musk’s actions “very disconcerting”, writing, “Elon Musk may be the world’s richest man, but that doesn’t excuse thanking Trump supporters with a Heil Hitler Nazi salute.”

Deborah Lipstadt, who served as the Biden administration’s special envoy combating global antisemitism until this week, downplayed the incident.

“We have much, much bigger things to worry about regarding contemporary antisemitism than this particular issue,” Lipstadt told JTA, saying she was referring both to Musk’s salute and the ADL’s response. Lipstadt separately told The Forward she accepted the ADL’s reading of the gesture as “awkward”. The US Holocaust Memorial and Museum didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Others, including many progressives, were quick to denounce Musk, the ADL, or both.

“Elon Musk, the richest man in the world and a high-ranking member of the new Trump administration, gave an unambiguous Nazi salute at a post-inauguration Trump rally,” the Jewish Council of Public Affairs, a progressive group, wrote in an email. “We need to be prepared to call out and fight back against hate and extremism wherever we see it.”

One of the most widely shared condemnations came from Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the most prominent progressive voices in Washington.

“Just to be clear, you are defending a Heil Hitler salute that was performed and repeated for emphasis and clarity,” she wrote in response to the ADL. “People can officially stop listening to you as any sort of reputable source of information now. You work for them.”

That, in turn, drew backlash from a range of voices chiding Ocasio-Cortez, who isn’t Jewish, for discounting the voice of a prominent Jewish group.

Zioness, which stated its “vehement” disagreement with the ADL, also accused Ocasio-Cortez of engaging in “exploitation of this moment to openly attack the most identifiable Jewish organisation in America”. But it also said, “There’s no such thing as an accidental Nazi salute.”

IfNotNow, a progressive Jewish group that has been a prominent voice accusing Israel of genocide, said it was “appalled that the Anti-Defamation League, which purports to be the leading organisation fighting antisemitism, glossed over Musk’s Nazi gesture, admonishing those of us who were aghast at the Hitler salute to give Musk ‘the benefit of the doubt’, even as the ADL assumes the worst intentions of those in the movement for Palestinian human rights.”

The group said the ADL’s statement “marks the completion of the ADL’s transition from a civil rights organisation to a willing partner in the neo-fascist governing coalition”.

This is far from Musk’s first brush with accusations of antisemitism. Recently, he promoted the German far-right AfD party, whose politicians have downplayed the Holocaust, along with anti-immigrant figures and causes in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Weeks after Hamas’s 7 October attack, he endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory shared on X as “the actual truth”, prompting many advertisers to flee. He later mounted a rehabilitation effort, visiting Auschwitz, where he opined that X could have saved Jews from the Holocaust, and advocating on behalf of Israeli hostages in Gaza.

In recent months he has also praised a Tucker Carlson X interview with a Holocaust denier, though later deleted his endorsement of the video, and invited avowed antisemites, including Nick Fuentes, back onto the platform after they were banned by the site’s previous owners.

But some pro-Israel and conservative influencers rushed to Musk’s defence, accusing Ocasio-Cortez and other progressives of hypocrisy for not loudly condemning Nazi sympathisers and salutes at pro-Palestinian protests.

“Today, because Musk’s gesture looked like a Nazi salute, today was the day they finally decided that Nazi salutes are bad,” pro-Israel activist Jordyn Tilchen wrote on Instagram, in one representative post. Yet Tilchen also noted that “Musk should make a statement” about his gesture, “because there are far right extremists on neo-Nazi Telegram channels right now who believe it was” a Nazi salute.

Also defending Musk was Representative Elise Stefanik, Trump’s nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, who made a name for herself by condemning university presidents for their response to antisemitism. Stefanik took part of her Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday to deny Democratic Senator Chris Murphy’s charge that Musk had performed “two Heil Hitler salutes”.

“No, Elon Musk did not do those salutes,” Stefanik responded. “The American people are smart. They see through it. They support Elon Musk. We’re proud to be the country of such successful entrepreneurs.”

Musk, for his part, pinned a video of his speech with the salute to the top of his X page. He also mocked critics without explicitly clarifying the salute’s intent, writing on X, “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired.” He called a Wikipedia page mentioning his salute “an extension of legacy media propaganda”.