Musk Calls George Soros ‘Magneto,’ Sparks Criticism From Israeli Official

Hungarian-born U.S. investor and philanthropist George Soros (left) in Davos, Switzerland, on May 24, 2022, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk (right) in San Francisco on Jan. 24, 2023. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Justin Sullivan/via Getty Images)

Elon Musk compared controversial billionaire Democratic donor George Soros to “X-Men” supervillain “Magneto” in a series of tweets on May 15, just days after Soros’s firm disclosed having sold off its stake in Tesla.

“Soros reminds me of Magneto,” the Twitter owner wrote, referring to the Marvel comic villain who is a Jewish Holocaust survivor.

He added that Hungarian-born investor Soros, 92, “wants to erode the very fabric of civilization” and “hates humanity.”

Musk’s comments came after Soros’ investment management firm, Soros Fund Management, confirmed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and exchange commission published on Friday that it sold off its entire stake in Tesla’s stocks in the first quarter of this year.

According to the filing, Soros’ fund held 132,000 shares in Tesla last quarter, worth about $16.3 million at the time, before selling them off after Tesla’s stock price surged.

Soros’ firm also cut its stake in rival carmaker Rivian and a string of tech companies like Amazon and Alphabet, the filing shows.

It also reduced its stake in First Horizon Bank by 14.37 percent to roughly 7.31 million shares.

Responding to Musk’s comments on Monday, Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a civil rights group that tracks antisemitism incidents, said the remarks will “embolden extremists.”

Twitter logo and a photo of Elon Musk are displayed through a magnifier in this illustration taken on Oct. 27, 2022. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters)

Musk Posts ‘Distressing, Dangerous’

“Soros often is held up by the far-right, using antisemitic tropes, as the source of the world’s problems,” Greenblatt posted on Twitter. “To see Elon Musk, regardless of his intent, feed this segment—comparing him to a Jewish supervillain, claiming Soros ‘hates humanity’—is not just distressing, it’s dangerous: it will embolden extremists who already contrive anti-Jewish conspiracies and have tried to attack Soros and Jewish communities as a result.”

Musk later posted that “ADL should just drop the ‘A.’”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry weighed in on Musk’s comments on Tuesday, with its Director of Digital Diplomacy David Saranga posting, “'The Jews’ is trending right now on #Twitter and it’s filled with antisemitic conspiracies and hate speech targeting Jews around the world.”

Saranga accused Twitter of doing “nothing to address this problem.”

“It reminds me of Niemöller’s words which are prominently featured on a wall of the Holocaust Museum in Washington: ‘First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me,” he wrote.

Musk defended his comments about Soros in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday following Tesla’s shareholder meeting, saying he stands by his remarks because “that’s my opinion [of Soros].”

George Soros answers questions after delivering a speech on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, on May 24, 2022. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)

Musk Touts ‘Freedom of Speech’

“It’s freedom of speech; I’m allowed to say what I want,” Musk said, adding that he is not concerned if his posts don’t go down well with Twitter advertisers or potential Tesla buyers.

“I’ll say what I want to say, and if the consequence of that is losing money, so be it,” Musk said in the interview.

However, the businessman stressed he is not an anti-Semite and is “a pro-Semite if anything.”

Musk’s comments about Soros come shortly after the billionaire financier denied claims that he contributed to Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s election campaign and denied having ever met Bragg.

His denial came after he was criticized for a $1 million contribution he made to the Color of Change PAC, which endorsed Bragg in his campaign for Manhattan district attorney in 2021 and which pledged more than $1 million in support.

Bragg led the indictment against former President Donald Trump.

“I think some on the right would rather focus on far-fetched conspiracy theories than on the serious charges against the former president,” Soros told Semafor in a March interview.

Soros has long been a prominent contributor to Democratic candidates and left-wing causes and donated nearly $1.4 million to Alianza America, which describes itself as a “network of migrant-led organizations supporting immigrants across the United States,” between 2016 and 2020.

The nonprofit organization later went on to file a lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on behalf of illegal immigrants who were flown to Martha’s Vineyard.

Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.