Elon Musk says he's 'Jewish by association' after Auschwitz visit, sees 'almost no antisemitism'

Elon Musk said he is "Jewish by association" during a conversation with conservative commentator Ben Shapiro after a visit to the former Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz, Poland.

Musk, the Tesla CEO and owner of social media platform X, made the comments during a conference on antisemitism organized by the European Jewish Association. The association had arranged for Musk to make a private visit to Auschwitz, where an estimated 1.1 million Jewish people were killed during the Holocaust.

"I must admit to being somewhat frankly naive about this. In the circles that I move, I see almost no antisemitism. ... Two-thirds of my friends are Jewish," the billionaire tech mogul said in a video posted on YouTube by Bloomberg Technology. "I have twice as many Jewish friends as non-Jewish friends. I’m like Jewish by association."

The association organized the visit to address a worldwide surge of antisemitism after the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

"I’m aspirationally Jewish,” Musk continued. "So I was like, ‘What are people talking about with this antisemitism?’ Because I never hear it at dinner conversations. It’s like an absurdity — at least in my friend circles."

During the conversation with Shapiro, Musk also addressed "pro-Hamas rallies" on "elite college campuses that are supposed to be ... enlightened."

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"You're not supposed to be fostering hate," he said.

In his visit to the death camp, Musk was joined by the association’s chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Shapiro and Holocaust survivor Gidon Lev. He laid a wreath at the wall of death and took part in a short memorial ceremony by the Birkenau memorial, the association said in a Facebook post.

Musk caused an uproar in November and was condemned by the White House after he endorsed an antisemitic claim on X. Musk wrote, "You have said the actual truth" responding to a post that falsely claimed that Jewish people push hatred for white people.

In that same thread, Musk went after the Anti-Defamation League, whose CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, had called out the danger of promoting antisemitic rhetoric.

Musk has also been condemned for allowing users to post bigoted contents, including antisemitic posts, on the social media platform.