In a post on social media, Netanyahu said that Musk is being “falsely smeared” and suggested that Musk’s support of Israel is proof that he isn’t antisemitic — even as numerous Jewish and anti-hate groups and observers have said that Musk’s now-infamous salute was clearly a Nazi salute.

Netanyahu pointed to Musk’s visiting Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack and advocating for what he said was “Israel’s right to defend itself against genocidal terrorists and regimes who seek to annihilate the one and only Jewish state.”