Anti-Defamation League boss Jonathan Greenblatt is continuing his media tour, as he seeks to counter attacks from prominent online influencers and Twitter/X owner Elon Musk over the ADL’s track record of smearing individuals and companies and attempting to cut off their relationships with advertisers.
Greenblatt’s latest appearance was on The Pivot podcast with tech journalist Kara Swisher and Scott Gallorway. He told the hosts that he had a positive opinion of Linda Yaccarino, the new CEO of Twitter, and said that all he wanted was for Elon Musk to “work with” his organization, while continuing to accuse the X/Twitter owner of promoting antisemitism by allowing more free speech on the platform.
Elon Musk (Chesnot / Getty)
“A number of people are back on the platform who had been removed for violations of the terms of service. They continue to say things, post things, publish things that are not questionable. They are absolutely, unambiguously hostile,” said Greenblatt. “And they’re feeding the fire of this environment where again, Jews and other minorities feel a degree of vulnerability.”
The ADL boss went on to link online “radicalization” of the kind he condemns at Twitter with real-life murders.
“And I am flying out tomorrow or today to attend the funerals tomorrow in Jacksonville of the people who were killed in that hate crime. The fact of the matter is, radicalizing people online has real-world implications and normalizing antisemitism and weaponizing hate is bad for the world.”
Responding to a question from podcast co-host Galloway, Greenblatt agreed with a comparison of Elon Musk to the Nazis in 1930s Germany.
“What is in my opinion, less opaque is that the go-to, the playbook in the emergence of Nazi Germany was, ‘I know, let’s blame the Jews’” said Galloway. “And what we have here is the wealthiest man in the world, arguably the most powerful man in the world who is blaming the Jews full stop. It strikes me as very strategic that he chose your organization to blame for their decline in revenue. But isn’t this how it all starts? Generally speaking, the most powerful, wealthiest American should not start with blaming the Jews.”
“Short answer is yes,” said Greenblatt. “The longer answer is demagoguery isn’t anything new. Blaming the Jews is as old as the hills.”
Greenblatt stopped short of calling Musk an antisemite himself, but went on to blame him for “raging antisemitism” on X/Twitter.
“But the only group that Elon is talking about right now is the Jewish one. Now look, I have spoken to Elon Musk. I didn’t think he was an antisemite, and still, I will take him at his word. The problem is when he elevates, when he engages with, when he casts blame, it creates the conditions in which antisemitism is raging right now on the platform.”
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. He is the author of #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election. Follow him on Twitter @AllumBokhari.