Musk said that “There’s no choice” in Israel’s resolve to destroy Hamas.
Musk made this known on Monday, during his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and other stakeholders, in Kfar Aza, Israel.
Musk arrived in Israel on Monday to meet with Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, other officials, and victims of the October 7 Hamas attack, as well as the families of hostages, after being accused of promoting antisemitism with his social media platform, X.
The billionaire decided to visit Israel less than two weeks after he endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory on his X platform, which led to major companies pulling advertisements from the microblogging site.
Accompanied by Netanyahu, Musk began his visit by touring some towns in southern Israel that were among the worst affected by the Hamas’ October 7 onslaught.
During the tour of Kfar Aza, Musk was shown the horrors of the Hamas attack, which saw terrorists storm the community and 20 or so others.
According to Musk, the experience was “jarring”. He also noted that he was struck by what appeared to be “joy” on the part of the terrorists in the video.
“The rebuttal is often made that well, you know, Israel has killed civilians also in Gaza,” Musk said. “But there’s an important difference here, which is that Israel tries to avoid killing civilians, doing everything it can to avoid killing civilians. And, you know, there’s no sort of joy expressed.”
He added that “there’s no choice” but for Israel to destroy Hamas, but that Israel then needs to “help those that remain,” likening a future postwar scenario to the post-World War II US occupation of Germany and Japan.
“If you want security, peace and a better life for Gazans, then you need to destroy Hamas. You first have to get rid of the poisonous regime, as was done in Germany and Japan,” said Netanyahu, to which Musk responded: “There’s no choice.”
He added, “You need to pair firmness and taking out the terrorists and those intent on murder, and at the same time help those that remain, which is what happened in Germany and Japan.”
“Usually the victor punishes the loser,” he continued, pointing to the rehabilitation of Germany and Japan by the allies after World War II as examples of how reconstruction efforts after a major war and a clear-cut victory helped secure peace for a long period.
In his remarks, Herzog noted that Musk’s X platform reeks of antisemitism, calling on the tech mogul to endeavour to nip it in the bud as soon as possible.
He said, “Unfortunately, we are inundated by antisemitism, which is Jew hate, and Jew hate impacts the entire notion of behaviour of human beings in so many places around the world. And you have a huge role to play, and I think we need to fight it together, because under the platforms you lead, unfortunately, there is a harbouring of a lot of old hate which is Jew hate, which is antisemitism.
“You’ve seen how evil can supersede everything, you’ve seen this morning what hate can bring about, you’ve seen how thought turns into evil turns into hate and bloodshed”, he added.
Responding, Musk said, “These people have been fed propaganda since they were children. It’s remarkable what humans are capable of if they are fed falsehood since they are children. They think that murdering innocent people is a good thing. That’s how much propaganda can affect people’s minds.”
Since he took over the company last year, Musk has been panned for what critics say is a proliferation of hate speech in general on the platform.
