Elon Musk has accused the Anti-Defamation League, one of the most prominent Jewish organizations in the US, of being a “hate group” against Christians, suggesting that it encourages murder.

“The ADL hates Christians, therefore it is is [sic] a hate group,” Musk responded on Sunday night to an X account that posts anti-immigrant content.

Musk made the comments on his social media platform X in response to the ADL’s documentation of racist and extremist statements by members of Charlie Kirk’s group, Turning Point USA. The ADL previously defended Musk against accusations of antisemitism after he gave what were widely criticized as two fascist-style salutes on stage following Trump’s inauguration.

“Using such false and defamatory labels about people and organizations encourages murder,” Musk said in response.

Musk’s attacks on the ADL show that his recently positive relationship to the organization, which came to his aid after the inauguration, has soured. The ADL’s defense of Musk, who has repeatedly denied being antisemitic, led to immense backlash from longtime donors and staff.

The Tesla CEO also responded to several other rightwing influencer accounts targeting the ADL, some of whom have been seeking punishment of groups or individuals that have been critical of Kirk after his killing. They shared screenshots on Sunday of a page from the ADL’s website that documents the Christian Identity movement, an extremist ideology dating back to the 19th century which promotes a racial holy war against Jews and other minority groups.

The ADL’s page on Kirk’s organization states: “TPUSA’s leadership and activists have made multiple racist or bigoted comments and have been linked to a variety of extremists”, citing numerous incidents such as a TPUSA chapter head posting a joke about the murder of three Black students at their university; another chapter president caught on video yelling “white power”; and the organization inviting a prominent white nationalist to speak at Iowa State University.

“The idea that @ADL is anti-Christian is offensive and wrong. Many of our staff members are Christian. Many of our supporters are Christian. We are blessed to work with many Christian brothers and sisters in the shared fight against antisemitism and all forms of hate,” Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL’s CEO, posted. The statements from the ADL and Greenblatt did not address the page on TPUSA.

The ADL’s backing of Musk was a rare example of an anti-hate group supporting the tech mogul, who has faced years of criticism from extremism monitors over his amplification of far-right content. Earlier this year, the head of Yad Vashem, Israel’s memorial to victims of the Holocaust, denounced Musk’s endorsement of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and his statement that Germans should move “past guilt”.

The organization’s relationship with Musk has been a continual source of contention for the organization, which has faced backlash in recent years over its narrowing mission and Greenblatt’s leadership.

ADL staffers have previously alleged that Greenblatt has pursued pro-Israel policies and cozied up to powerful actors such as Musk in a way that has undermined the ADL’s broader goal of combating extremism.

The ADL faced more internal turmoil earlier this year after it called Musk’s on-stage salute “an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute” and asked that “all sides should give one another a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt”. Since defending his gestures, the organization has criticized Musk for incidents that have included his Grok AI chatbot praising nazism and calling itself “MechaHitler”.

In another incident from 2023, Musk faced widespread criticism after he endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory on X that Jewish communities push “hatred against Whites”. Greenblatt praised Musk days later, however, after the billionaire posted that the pro-Palestinian slogan “From the river to the sea” would violate X’s content moderation policies. The incident led to an uproar among staff and the head of the ADL’s Center for Technology and Society, Yael Eisenstat, resigning over the disagreement.