The ADL Should Have Spoken Out About Musk’s Nazi Salute. Here's What We Should Learn from Their Failure to Do So
The video is fairly unambiguous: Elon Musk twice yesterday gave a Nazi salute.
I’m not (too) disappointed in him—after all, it was already well-known that Musk flirts with antisemitism and extremism. In this situation, my primary dismay is reserved for the Anti-Defamation League, which released what can generously be called a mealy-mouthed statement.
I’m going to pick the ADL apart for what they published; they deserve it, and their words merit scrutiny. To be fair, though, the problem isn’t really just them, per se. It’s cravenness among Jewish organizations and leaders that ought to be able to speak out against those in power, but instead, too frequently sidle up to them. Sometimes it’s hard to know where exactly the line should be, but other times it isn’t. This one should have been easy, so the ADL’s behavior makes a great, easy illustration of a larger problem.
Here’s what they wrote:
This is a delicate moment. It’s a new day and yet so many are on edge. Our politics are inflamed, and social media only adds to the anxiety.
So far, so good.
It seems that @elonmusk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute, but again, we appreciate that people are on edge.
Yikes.
In this moment, all sides should give one another a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt, and take a breath. This is a new beginning. Let’s hope for healing and work toward unity in the months and years ahead.
Woof. That’s a lot to take in.
Of course, in some respects, the ADL is right; however, in the deepest of ways, they’re wrong.
Here’s how they nailed it: Grace is important. (In Jewish jargon, we’d call this kaf zchut.) Especially with social media, we are all too hasty to draw judgment against individuals for even minor slights. At times when judgment may be merited, we don’t always need to heap it to the degree we tend to on sites like, say, Twitter. It’s true, we should resist our most knee-jerk condemnatory tendencies.
The ADL is also right that it’s good for us not to overdo it, harming ourselves. Politics is a long game, and Musk probably isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. The urge to “burn it all down,” as it were, is about as likely to inflict self-harm as it is to assist us in accomplishing our goals. Being pragmatic isn’t always cathartic, but it is usually wise.
I’ll give this to organizations like the ADL too: They’re playing that long game of politics, and sometimes therein you have to work with people you don’t love or even like. Anyone who’s worked in public affairs can tell you that this is just part of the job. If the ADL, for example, too forcefully goes after someone like Musk, it’s possible they could undermine their fundamental work (in this case, of protecting Jews from antisemitism.)
But, here’s where I diverge, and to an extent that overrides everything above—sometimes we hold the line because to do otherwise creates profound doubt about what we stand for. This should have been a moment of line-holding for the ADL, but, instead, they folded. A crystal clear, forceful statement was called for, and we got anything but that. (What we needed was something like that of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, which didn’t mince words: “We know precisely where this extremist behavior leads.”)
I value the ADL. The educational resources they offer on antisemitism are tremendous, and their data on antisemitic incident prevalence is essential. However, yesterday, they devalued themselves in the eyes of many people, Jewish and not. The words of an organization committed to fighting antisemitism aren’t worth much if they can’t condemn a Nazi salute made by the richest man in the world on an international stage twice.
Times like these are difficult, and I hope the ADL finds its footing in the days ahead. I hope we all do. I hope the ADL discovers the courage to say the things they obviously need to say, even if they sincerely wish they didn’t need to. I’d urge grace (kaf zchut) toward legacy Jewish organizations like them since they’re in an impossibly difficult position. Let’s all “hope for healing” in the coming weeks – who knows, maybe the ADL press office is already working on the retraction.