Elon Musk doubles down on criticizing George Soros despite being labeled anti-Semitic

Elon Musk on Thursday doubled down on his criticism of billionaire financier George Soros, arguing that the progressive philanthropist supported elected officials whose policies hurt American cities.

Musk, 51, compared Soros, 92, to X-Men supervillain Magneto — a world-manipulating character who believes mutants should be in charge, rather than humans.

He made the remarks on Twitter Monday, after announcing that Soros’ investment fund had dumped all of their Tesla stock.

Soros, a Hungarian-born billionaire, heads the Open Society Foundation and is a Holocaust survivor.

Musk was accused of spreading anti-Semitic tropes about Jewish people who pull the strings and control the world, and in a bizarre interview with CNBC on Tuesday, he added fuel to the fire.

On Thursday, Musk returned to the theme, saying he had issues with Soros’s philanthropy.

Musk responded to Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, who said the South African-born billionaire was not anti-Semitic, but that his comments were dangerous.

“He is perhaps the most influential person in the world in control of what is essentially our public square. When he repeats conspiracy theories, it feeds the extremists,” Greenblatt said.

Musk replied, “Honestly, I have to admit that Joel has a good point and I’ll try to be more thoughtful in the future.”

He later corrected to tweet to say “Jonathan.”

Musk continued, “Comic book analogies are clearly imperfect, to say the least.

“Just because George Soros can bend metal with his mind doesn’t mean he’s Magneto!!

Anyway, my real concern with Soros is that he has funded so many politicians and DAs who are soft even on violent crime, which has wreaked havoc on many cities imo.

“Even though I’m a big supporter of expanding legal immigration, we need to have some vetting of who’s coming in so we don’t allow dangerous felons to prey on innocent Americans.”

In a statement on Tuesday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said Musk’s tweet had sparked a deluge of conspiracy theories and that the hashtag “The Jews” was trending on the platform.

During his odd interview with CNBC’s David Faber, Musk was asked about his Soros tweets and he responded by starting a bizarre tangent with the 1987 fairytale adventure, The Princess Bride.

“I’ll say what I want to say and if it means losing money, so be it,” Musk said.

Musk tells Faber, “I said he reminds me of Magneto, you know, calm down people.”

Faber asks: ‘If you do such a thing, why share it? Why share it if people who buy Teslas might disagree with you, advertisers on Twitter might disagree, why share it so widely?’

Musk responds: “Freedom of speech, I can say what I want.”

Faber told him, ‘It puts you in the middle of a partisan division in the country, it makes you a lightning rod for criticism. Do you like that?’

Musk said he was a “pro-Semite,” and after a long awkward silence totaling 12 seconds, he launched into a bizarre diatribe, citing the 1987 film The Princess Bride.

‘I am reminded of a scene in The Princess Bride where he confronts the person who kills his father.

He says, ‘Offer me money. Offer me strength. I do not give a hoot’.’

Musk then says, “I’ll say what I want to say and if that means losing money, so be it.”

In response, Israel’s Foreign Ministry tweeted: “The phrase ‘The Jews’ jumped to the list of trending topics on Twitter today following an anti-Semitic tweet from none other than the social network’s owner and CEO, Elon Musk.

Musk’s tweet immediately sparked a flood of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories on Twitter.

“Unfortunately, Twitter is not doing anything to address this issue.”

David Saranga, the director of the Digital Diplomacy Office of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, tweeted: “It reminds me of Niemöller’s words prominently displayed on a wall of the Holocaust Museum in Washington.

“First they came for the socialists, and I didn’t speak up – because I wasn’t a socialist.

“Then they came for the unionists, and I didn’t speak up – because I wasn’t a unionist. Then they came for the Jews

“I didn’t speak up – because I wasn’t a Jew.

“Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.”

“Niemöller’s words serve as an indictment of passivity and indifference during the Holocaust.”

Musk didn’t explain the reason behind his outburst, but the tweet was posted shortly after a regulatory filing revealed that Soros’s office dumped its entire stake in Tesla.

Tesla shares are up nearly 54 percent since the start of the year, though the value of Soros’ stake is not clear at this time.

Greenblatt tweeted, “Soros is often held up by the far right, using anti-Semitic tropes, as the source of the world’s problems.

To see Elon Musk, regardless of his intentions, feed off this segment — comparing him to a Jewish supervillain and claiming that Soros “hates humanity” — is not only disturbing, it’s dangerous.

“It will embolden extremists who have already devised anti-Jewish conspiracies and, as a result, have tried to attack Soros and Jewish communities.”

CEO of the American Jewish Committee Ted Deutch told CNN“The tweet about the idea that Soros hates humanity, tries to destroy civilization just plays on the classic anti-Semitic conspiracy theory about Jewish wealth and power.”

“We have seen anti-Semitism rise since Musk took over on Twitter, our own research shows that two-thirds of Jews have experienced anti-Semitism online, 85% of those under 30.

“It’s unacceptable and dangerous.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Elon again refused to back down on his comments.

In response to his original tweet, he said, “I want to apologize for this post.”

But he quickly continued, “It was really unfair to Magneto.”

It comes after a study found anti-Semitic tweets boomed following Musk’s acquisition, up 105 percent following the $4 billion deal.