The BBC wasn’t the only one to whitewash Elon Musk’s Nazi salute

The Nazi salute of world’s richest man Elon Musk was hardly surprising, considering the way he’s been spreading racist disinformation and backing fascists all around the world in recent months. He’s apparently now funding the legal fight of British far-right figure Tommy Robinson (Stephen Yaxley-Lennon), for example. But the BBC‘s ‘both sides’ response was awful – as was a supposedly Jewish organisation – the ADL.

Elon Musk, the BBC, and the ADL

The British public broadcaster simply said “Musk responds to backlash over gesture at Trump rally”. This was despite it quoting historians specialising in fascism as saying Musk’s “gesture” was clearly a Nazi salute.

Even a confidant of Musk had reportedly praised the return of the “Roman salute” – which Benito Mussolini’s fascists used in Italy and then Adolf Hitler’s Nazis adopted in Germany. Whatever its pre-fascist historical origins, it is widely recognisable in the West as a commitment to the far-right cause.

Musk of course has pushed back – saying “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired”. Yet he didn’t deny or give explanation as to why he did a Nazi salute – and the argument that he was ‘sending his heart out’ to people doesn’t wash when you watch the actual timing of events.

Perhaps even more absurd, however, was the defence that the pro-Israel lobbyists at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) offered for Musk.

The ADL, which has waged a battle against TikTok because it reflected the pro-Palestinian sentiment of its mostly younger users, clearly thinks Musk is the ‘right kind of antisemite’ as he, like most other multi-billionaires, supports Israel. Because it tried to play down the importance of Musk’s salute, tweeting:

It seems that @elonmusk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute

It said people were “on edge” and that “all sides should give one another a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt”.

People were quick to point out that the ADL hasn’t given “grace” or “the benefit of the doubt” to people opposing the genocide in Gaza in the last 15 months. Its record has been quite the opposite.

Just recently, for example, it criticised historians for calling out Israel’s mass destruction of the occupied Palestinian territory’s education system. And many people are fully awake to the ADL’s shameless hypocrisy and complicity with the resurgence of fascism:

19 year old student says 'Free Palestine'

Antisemitic!

Musk backs Germany's AfD and antisemitic replacement theories. Buys Twitter so Nazis load at the top. Sieg Heils multiple times.

Give him the benefit of the doubt!

The @ADL has one job. But @JGreenblattADL can't do it.

— Bend the Arc: Jewish Action (@jewishaction) January 20, 2025

According to the ADL, I (a Jewish person) am wearing the equivalent to a swastika in this photo but Elon Musk (a Christian) doing the Nazi salute has no connection to Nazism. https://t.co/Sh79Nhn7eN pic.twitter.com/mC2QOApyxl

— eli n. (@elinachos) January 21, 2025

Elon Musk did a Hitler-adjacent salute at a Trump rally, and the ADL rushed to defend him, calling it “an awkward moment of enthusiasm.”

This is the same ADL whose CEO called tweeting “Free Palestine” at him antisemitic in 2023.

Cartoon by @LatuffCartoons pic.twitter.com/HCgMkXOoKL

— Mondoweiss (@Mondoweiss) January 21, 2025

This should not be surprising to anyone who has watched the ADL and its leadership operate these past few years—its chief executive said that Elon Musk is the “Henry Ford of our generation”, but wow is it shocking to see nazi apologia be so outright and shameless. https://t.co/q3Mdytvxw8

— Jason Rosenberg (@mynameisjro) January 21, 2025

When college students protest to end genocide, the ADL calls for militarized police across campuses. When the richest man in the world gives a nazi salute on national television, they tell everyone to calm down.

The ADL may not care about the safety of our communities, but we… https://t.co/sIzFKlIH15

— Jewish Voice for Peace (@jvplive) January 21, 2025

The right kind of fascist

Even some supporters of Israel can see through the ADL’s double standards. Shaiel Ben-Ephraim, for instance, says the ADL fears holding Musk to account and that:

They, and all major Jewish organizations will pursue any little powerless person with a Palestinian flag pin, but will not protect us from the real threats from powerful people.

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, meanwhile, rightly insisted:

The use of an antisemitic genocidal signal by the world’s most powerful man, who has engaged in racism and antisemitism in the past, cannot be taken lightly or written off as a mistake.

The @LemkinInstitute is horrified to be issuing a Red Flag Alert for the #UnitedStatesofAmerica on the very first day of the second Trump term as president @realDonaldTrump . However, #ElonMusk 's clear use of the #Nazi salute — twice — during his speech has given us no other… pic.twitter.com/dDrkmGmJis

— Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention (@LemkinInstitute) January 21, 2025

Considering the ADL describes the Nazi salute as “the most common white supremacist hand sign in the world”, you’d think it would have given Musk no grace at all. Clearly, though, when it comes to Zionists are are ‘the right type of fascists’.

Featured image via the Canary