Elon Musk’s remarks to a German far-right party that Germans should not focus on their country’s Nazi past should prompt “deep concern” about “the security of American Jews” and “of Jews worldwide”, a leading US Jewish advocate has told the Guardian.
“Speaking as a deeply concerned American Jew,” said Halie Soifer, chief executive of the Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA), “I am deeply concerned about the security of American Jews, of Jews worldwide, given our president’s clear alignment with dangerous rightwing extremists.”
Musk, the owner of Tesla, SpaceX and X and the world’s richest person, donated hundreds of millions of dollars to Donald Trump’s campaign and is now a close adviser with an office in the White House complex.
In a video address to the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party on Friday, Musk said it was “good to be proud of German culture, German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything”; said “children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents, let alone their great-grandparents”; and said there was “too much focus on past guilt, and we need to move beyond that”.
He also gave two fascist-style salutes last week, during a speech at Trump’s inauguration.
Soifer’s response comes after world leaders marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, in Poland.
Given her leadership of the JDCA, and a résumé that includes stints advising Kamala Harris and Democratic senators and working on Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign, Soifer said she knew she “may be viewed as partisan”.
But she said: “This administration is clearly attempting to remake the world order in its image. And Elon addressing the AfD, encouraging the AfD, clearly aligning with the AfD is also a form of election interference, in addition to being incredibly dangerous, given the extreme views of many of its members.
“It is not the norm for a senior adviser to the US president to align with a [foreign] political party in advance of elections” next month.
Amid outcry over his salutes and his comments to the AfD, Musk has denied far-right sympathies while gleefully trolling his critics. On Sunday, he pinned to his X account a Latin motto – “Nemo me impune lacessit”, or “No one provokes me with impunity” – which Musk attributed to Sulla, a Roman dictator, but which is actually the national motto of Scotland.
Soifer said: “The salute, the message to the AfD, the fact that he is willing to joke about the criticism he is getting, it all demonstrates that [those around Trump] are unwilling to recognize how dangerous their words and actions are.
“They don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt when it comes to this alignment. It has been a steady stream of signaling to rightwing extremists that they have an ally now in the White House.”
On his first day back in office, Trump pardoned more than 1,500 people convicted over the Capitol attack of 6 January 2021. He has signed executive orders instituting hardline immigration policies including plans for mass deportations.
Soifer said it was imperative opponents of Trump and Musk continue to condemn extremist behavior and language, because “words and signaling have dangerous consequences and Trump and his allies, including Elon Musk, are giving a green light to extremists.
“It’s important that that American voters, especially those who may have supported Donald Trump, open their eyes and see what’s right in front of them. He said he would be a dictator on day one, and for once he is making good on his promise.”
On Monday evening, Soifer noted that Trump had then not issued a statement marking Holocaust Remembrance Day, a step he took each year in his first term, though in 2017 he caused controversy when his statement did not mention Jewish people.
“Donald Trump is taking Elon’s advice to ‘move beyond’ the Holocaust,” Soifer said in a post on social media. “It’s (the end of) Holocaust Remembrance Day and Trump hasn’t said a word about it. But he did pardon the ‘Camp Auschwitz’ insurrectionist just in time for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.”
That was a reference to Robert Keith Packer, now 59, who was sentenced to 75 days in prison for his part in the Capitol attack, during which he was photographed wearing a hoodie with “Camp Auschwitz” printed on the front.
Trump sent a delegation to Auschwitz on Monday, led by Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy to the Middle East, and Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for secretary of commerce.
The White House eventually issued a “presidential action”, marking Holocaust Remembrance Day as a “National Day of Remembrance” but released after 10pm ET.
