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WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jonathan Greenblatt, the Anti-Defamation League CEO, is having second ideas about holding up a infamous hater of Jews as an exemplar of American genius.
Talking on CNBC Friday morning, Greenblatt praised Henry Ford, maybe probably the most infamous American antisemite and somebody he has beforehand criticized, as an antecedent for a sure up to date automobile producer.
“Elon Musk is a tremendous entrepreneur and extraordinary innovator is the Henry Ford of our time,” Greenblatt mentioned about the prospect of Musk taking over social media behemoth Twitter.
“He’s taken on large enormous complicated duties that nobody thought might be solved like rocketry or mobility or photo voltaic,” Greenblatt added about Musk. “And to suppose what he can do with the general public sq.. I imply, I’d actually have some qualms about only a handful of corporations controlling a lot of the general public debate, however I’m hopeful the regulators will give this an opportunity.”
It was a jarring analogy. In any case, Google “Henry Ford + the Anti-Defamation League” and also you would possibly get a deep dive into how the automotive pioneer was one of many lead purveyors of virulent antisemitism a century or so in the past. Or an evaluation of whether or not his firm profited from Nazi slave labor. In 2020, Greenblatt called on then-President Donald Trump to apologize for praising Ford.
It was additionally a 180 for Greenblatt and the ADL on Musk’s meant Twitter acquisition. In April, when Musk revealed his intentions, the ADL posted an evaluation entitled “Elon Musk Plans to Purchase Twitter. Proper-wing Extremists Rejoice.” Greenblatt promoted the piece on Twitter, saying it was a “key perspective to pay attention to.” Certainly there was widespread apprehension amongst Jewish officers on the prospect of Musk, who has derided the hunting down of hate speech, controlling Twitter.
After a backlash on Twitter (the place else), Greenblatt mentioned he might need made a extra apt comparability. “Admittedly, the Henry Ford reference was unsuitable regardless that he was an innovator within the car trade. I actually was not attempting to reward Ford and didn’t intend to attenuate his contemptible antisemitism in any means,” he mentioned in an announcement to the Jewish Telegraphic Company.
However he added that he stood by his reward for Musk in fields outdoors social media — and mentioned Musk’s success in his earlier ventures meant he might set excessive expectations for Musk’s Twitter possession.
“Whereas I clearly might have been a lot clearer, I used to be laying down a gauntlet about what we count on Elon Musk to do,” Greenblatt added. “As I’ve been saying for months, we now have severe issues round how Musk will deal with hate and harassment on the platform. As I’ve acknowledged publicly repeatedly, we wish to be cautiously optimistic about how Musk will run the platform as a result of he efficiently has innovated different industries and tackled extremely complicated issues. I’d implore him to use an equal stage of effort and assets, not simply to optimizing the enterprise mannequin, however to turning across the toxicity so rampant on Twitter and bettering public discourse consequently.”
Musk is on the hook to finish his buy of Twitter by Oct. 28 to keep away from a trial over his previous effort to again out of the deal. He should finalize $44 billion in financing by then.
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