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Elon Musk and ADL statements regarding their conflict

By Jon Sutz

This page contains public statements by Elon Musk, the ADL, and ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, on the fraudulent war that the ADL instigated against Musk and Twitter, on November 4, 2022.

The most recent items are at top. The ADL Tweet that publicly declared this war — eight days after Musk took control of Twitter — is at the end (here).

For newcomers to Twitter/X: To see the comments posted in response to each Tweet, click on the date-stamp at the bottom. This will also allow you to copy the link to share with others, and post to your own social media.

Contents

 

November 30, 2023: Musk gives no-holds-barred comments on Twitter/X, advertiser boycotts, the ADL and certain aspects of the Jewish nonprofit world

November 18, 2023: Musk created a firestorm by liking a Tweet that contained an overly-broad criticism of the Jewish community; He quickly clarified, and Ben Shapiro provides cogent analysis in 3-minute video

November 15, 2023: Musk addresses the ADL’s anti-white racism

October 10, 2023: Musk posts cartoon indicating the clashing accusations being leveled against X: Is it “an anti-Semitic cesspool”? Or, a Zionist propaganda machine”?

October 5, 2023: ADL resumes advertising on Twitter, despite its claims of continued anti-Semitism on the platform

October 4, 2023: The ADL falsely claims it never orchestrated an advertiser boycott of Twitter

September 28, 2023: Musk interviewed by Ben Shapiro re the ADL’s war against him/X, and its charges of anti-Semitism

September 21, 2023: ADL CEO claims it “has evolved into an organizational embodiment of the Jewish community,” and that push-back against the ADL — or suggesting it be banned from Twitter (after its campaigns to have others banned) — is an attack on Jews as a whole, akin to white supremacist and Nazi anti-Semitism

September 14, 2023: Musk comments on defamation judgments against the ADL through the years

September 14, 2023: Musk engages in in-depth discussion of the nature of the ADL’s war against him and X, on the All-In Podcast

September 8, 2023: Musk suggests that the ADL should be renamed the “Defamation League”

September 6, 2023: The Epoch Times report on Musk’s threatened lawsuit against the ADL

September 6, 2023: Musk responds to CNBC segment in which Greenblatt declares questioning the ADL’s motivations in its war against Twitter/X is “anti-Semitic”

September 5, 2023: Musk shares 2009 NPR article about a documentary focused on defamation, and the ADL’s classic role in standing up against it

September 5, 2023: Musk shares devastating 2020 article in The Tablet about the ADL’s corruption and betrayals of the Jewish people

September 4, 2023: Chaya Raichik describes how the ADL did the same thing to her that it did to Musk — but is happy that he has committed to exposing the internal data about its efforts to get her kicked off Twitter

September 4, 2023: Musk provides more detail on the basis of his lawsuit against the ADL, and the minimum amount he’d seek in damages

September 4, 2023: Musk announces his intent to sue the ADL to recover up to $22 billion in damages from the war it declared against him and Twitter/X

November 4, 2022: The ADL’s declaration of war on Twitter — eight days after Elon Musk took control of the site

November 30, 2023: Musk gives no-holds-barred comments on Twitter/X, advertiser boycotts, the ADL and certain aspects of the Jewish nonprofit world

November 18, 2023: Musk created a firestorm by liking a Tweet that contained an overly-broad criticism of the Jewish community; He quickly clarified, and Ben Shapiro provides cogent analysis in 3-minute video

For a briefer on self-made Jewish billionaire Bill Ackman, see here.

November 15, 2023: Musk addresses the ADL’s anti-white racism

And…

October 10, 2023: Musk posts cartoon indicating the clashing accusations being leveled against X: Is it “an anti-Semitic cesspool”? Or, a Zionist propaganda machine”?

October 5, 2023: ADL resumes advertising on Twitter, despite its claims of continued anti-Semitism on the platform

“We are now preparing to advertise on the platform again to bring our important message on fighting hate to X and its users.”

– ADL statement to the Jerusalem Post, October 5, 2023

Excerpt fromElon Musk thanks ADL as Jewish group resumes advertising on Twitter, Jewish Chronicle, October 5, 2023:

US antisemitism watchdog the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has extended an olive branch to X/Twitter boss Elon Musk, after weeks of conflict.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the organisation clarified its stance on X and denied allegations it orchestrated a boycott of the platform, causing the company to lose billions of dollars of advertising revenue.

“We ourselves were advertising on the platform until the anti-ADL attacks began a few weeks ago,” the watchdog said in its statement.

“We now are preparing to do so again to bring our important message on fighting hate to X and its users.”

Excerpt from the article, ADL resumes advertising on X after freeze amid antisemitism concerns, Jerusalem Post, October 5, 2023:

The ADL’s decision to return to advertising on X comes in the wake of heightened scrutiny over antisemitism and extremist content proliferating on the platform. […]

The ADL’s decision to resume advertising on X not only reaffirms its mission but also signals its intent to collaborate with the platform’s leadership in a bid to make it a safer and more inclusive space.

Amidst rising tensions between X owner Elon Musk and the organized Jewish community, Musk met last week with prominent Jewish figures, including Ben Shapiro, Rabbi Ari Lamm, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Natan Sharansky, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, Adv. Alan Dershowitz, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Rabbi Manis Friedman, and Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin. It highlighted Musk’s complex relationship with the Jewish community and the challenges posed by antisemitism on his platform.

October 4, 2023: The ADL falsely claims it never orchestrated an advertiser boycott of Twitter

From an ADL press release, “ADL Statement Regarding X/Twitter,” on October 4, 2023, here:

“To be clear, any allegation that ADL has somehow orchestrated a boycott of X or caused billions of dollars of losses to the company or is “pulling the strings” for other advertisers is false.”

This is an easily-provable lie. On November 4, 2022 — eight days after Elon Musk took ownership of Twitter — the ADL posted a Tweet thread that opened with the claim that “we are profoundly concerned about antisemitism and hate” on Twitter, and called for advertisers to boycott the site:

https://twitter.com/ADL/status/1588587735711121408

September 28, 2023: Musk interviewed by Ben Shapiro re the ADL’s war against him/X, and its charges of anti-Semitism

September 21, 2023: ADL CEO claims it “has evolved into an organizational embodiment of the Jewish community,” and that push-back against the ADL — or suggesting it be banned from Twitter (after its campaigns to have others banned) — is an attack on Jews as a whole, akin to white supremacist and Nazi anti-Semitism

On September 21, 2023, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt was quoted in the Jerusalem Post as saying:

“The ADL has evolved into an organizational embodiment of the Jewish community.” […]

“[In] the 1990s we contended with the Nation of Islam, a black-nationalist organization. More recently, campaigns like #DropTheADL, led by anti-Zionist organizations, have emerged.”

“Nowadays, ADL has become a proxy to attack Jews,” he said. “This feels eerily familiar. Musk is amplifying these attacks against us.”

[Notes: (1) Greenblatt describes the ADL’s conflict with the Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam in the past-tense, even though the opening sentence from the ADL’s 2019 report on Farrakhan reads: “For more than 30 years, Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam (NOI), has been a notable extremist figure, railing against Jews, white people and the LGBT community.”  (2) Furthermore, in 2020 the ADL labeled Farrakhan “America’s Most Popular Anti-Semite,” likely because it knows that there is a direct link between Farrakhan’s immense influence, including on Twitter, and the vast majority of hate crimes against Jews are perpetrated by other minorities — the bulk of whom are black, and some have used language in these attacks that mirrors Farrakhan’s. (3) Greenblatt defines the Nation of Islam as merely a “black nationalist” organization, while omitting the fact that as the ADL knows, radical Islam is the #1 threat facing Jews in America, and beyond. (4) While anti-Semitism has existed for 3,000+ years, the push-back against the ADL today is not, on whole, because of a hatred of Jews — but rather, because of the hyper-partisan political crusades it has instigated, almost invariably in thrall to radical leftist ideology, that have absolutely nothing to do with defending Jews or Israel — including its visible and behind-the-scenes machinates to destroy orthodox Jewish blogger Chaya Raichik (aka “LibsOfTikTok”.] 

“We have determined detractors, enemies, and individuals who harbor animosity toward the Jewish people and the Jewish state. But what sets this situation [with Twitter/X] apart is that the wealthiest individual in the world, the owner of one of the most influential media platforms on the planet, has been amplifying and expanding the reach of these detractors and enemies. That’s deeply concerning.”

[Note: And yet, as this report proves, for more than eleven years, Twitter’s previous management chose to profit by “amplifying and expanding” Farrakhan’s reach — and the ADL never said a public word about this outrage, or called for an advertiser boycott against the site because of it. It was only on November 4, 2022 — eight days after Musk took control of Twitter — that the ADL went to war with the site, over its allegedly “profound concerns about anti-Semitism and hate” on the site, and called for a worldwide advertiser boycott, to effectively destroy it.]

September 14, 2023: Musk comments on defamation judgments against the ADL through the years

Here, Musk gives a public nod to this 12:40 video that addresses several settlements and judgments the ADL has had to pay through the years in settlements and fines, regarding its shameful behavior. Most notably, the video points out that according to Musk’s review of Twitter’s internal files, the ADL pressured the platform to ban orthodox Jew Chaya Raichik, for sharing videos uploaded by leftists who indoctrinate children, advocate gender transition medical care and surgery for them, etc. (Details here)

September 14, 2023: Musk engages in in-depth discussion of the nature of the ADL’s war against him and X, on the All-In Podcast

Cue up to 26:43:

September 8, 2023: Musk suggests that the ADL should be renamed the “Defamation League”

September 6, 2023: The Epoch Times report on Musk’s threatened lawsuit against the ADL

Musk Threatens Defamation Lawsuit Against ADL Over Declining X Revenue, The Epoch Times, September 6, 2023.  Excerpts:

“Our U.S. advertising revenue is still down 60%, primarily due to pressure on advertisers by @ADL (that’s what advertisers tell us), so they almost succeeded in killing X/Twitter!” Mr. Musk wrote. […]

In further comments, Mr. Musk explained that advertisers tend to “avoid controversy,” and all it takes for the ADL to impact their U.S. and European ad revenue is to make “unfounded accusations.”

September 6, 2023: Musk responds to CNBC segment in which Greenblatt declares questioning the ADL’s motivations in its war against Twitter/X is “anti-Semitic”

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1699512845413556316

September 6, 2023: Musk says ad revenue is down 60% since the ADL instigated its war against Twitter/X

September 5, 2023: Musk shares 2009 NPR article about a documentary focused on defamation, and the ADL’s classic role in standing up against it

Regarding this: Movie Review – ‘Defamation’ – Exploring The Politics Of ‘Defamation’ — NPR:

September 5, 2023: Musk shares devastating 2020 article in The Tablet about the ADL’s corruption and betrayals of the Jewish people

Regarding this: The Mind-Bendingly Insane, Completely Craven, Utterly Unconscionable Redemption of Al Sharpton, Tablet Magazine, August 23, 2020.

In the reply comments, a user posted another article in this vein:

The Shame of the Anti-Defamation League, Commentary Magazine, November 2018.

September 4, 2023: Chaya Raichik describes how the ADL did the same thing to her that it did to Musk — but is happy that he has committed to exposing the internal data about its efforts to get her kicked off Twitter

LIBS OF TIKTOK: The ADL tried to deplatform me on X after defaming me, and now Elon Musk plans to expose them, Human Events, September 4, 2023. Excerpt:

In September 2022, the ADL added me to their “Glossary of Extremism” after I exposed the efforts of children’s hospitals in the US to medically sex change children and minors. I shared the promotional videos put out by the Boston Children’s Hospital, and others, where doctors explained the measures they would take to “affirm” a minor’s delusion that they were born in the wrong body.

These included double mastectomies for girls under 17, vaginoplasties for boys aged 17, and hysterectomies and phalloplasties for girls aged 18 and over. This was confirmed by the materials published by Boston Children’s Hospital. Boston Children’s Hospital launched the first pediatric gender clinic in the US, and routinely provides puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. They advertise this to families seeking this treatment for their children, and I simply pointed that out.

Yet, for the ADL, this made me “transphobic” and an “extremist.”

In their glossary, they said “Libs of TikTok is a popular anti-LGBTQ+ twitter account operated by former real estate agent Chaya Raichik. The account, which has over 1.3 million followers as of August 2022, attempts to generate outrage and stoke anti-LGBTQ+ hostility by reposting selected out-of-context social media content created by LGBTQ+ people and liberals. The individuals, events and organizations targeted by the account are frequent targets of harassment, threats and violence.”

In an article on their site, the ADL went to great lengths to explain just how anti-Semitism and “transphobia” are linked, even though the two things in actual fact have nothing in common.

In the article, Raichik also shared a Tweet by Musk that indicated he’s seen some of the direct appeals made by the ADL to Twitter’s previous management, to have her banned (he later indicated he is going to do a data dump of all of it):

September 4, 2023: Musk provides more detail on the basis of his lawsuit against the ADL, and the minimum amount he’d seek in damages

September 4, 2023: Musk announces his intent to sue the ADL to recover up to $22 billion in damages from the war it declared against him and Twitter/X

In response, a user posted a comment with a screencap about an earlier instance in which the ADL was forced by a federal jury to pay $10.5 million to settle a case in which it defamed others.

Musk replied with an indication that in his case, the judgment could be as much as $22 billion.

The article to which the user referred is here:

Judge fines ADL $10.5 million in Colorado defamation suit, Jewish News of Northern California, May 12, 2000.

November 4, 2022: The ADL’s declaration of war on Twitter — eight days after Elon Musk took control of the site

On November 4, 2022, the ADL posted a Tweet thread that opened with the claim that “we are profoundly concerned about antisemitism and hate” on Twitter, and called for advertisers to boycott the site: