UFC veteran defends Tesla employee fired for opinions on Israel-Palestine conflict: "Elon said he will set you a legal fee"
Ex-UFC welterweight Jake Shields has just thrown his support behind a Tesla engineer who was fired for expressing his personal views on the Israel-Palestine war. The engineer, known as Joseph Faisal Nusairat, shared numerous anti-Israel sentiments on X/Twitter.
Moreover, he promoted an antisemitic conspiracy theory about Israel being in bed with the world's governing elite. This led to his termination from Tesla, which drew the attention of Shields, who took to X to give his thoughts on the matter.
"Tesla fired one of their engineers for correctly saying Hamas did not behead 40 babies and Israel controls our government. Elon [Musk] said he will set you a legal fee to help anyone who is fired over tweets. Will be Sue Tesla?"
Shields himself is known for being a staunch anti-Israel critic on X, often taking aim at the country for its role in the escalating violence of the war with Hamas, which has negatively impacted numerous Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Furthermore, the ex-UFC fighter referenced a past promise of Elon Musk's.
The Tesla CEO previously claimed that he would pay for the legal fees of anyone fired over their tweets. That, however, seems not to extend to those fired from his own companies, as noted by Shields. Much of the rhetoric stems from Musk likening himself to a champion of free speech.
However, free speech only ensures that what one says cannot be legally punished. Privately-owned companies are still free to punish or otherwise terminate their employees for any offense considered a breach of their terms.
Former UFC fighter Jake Shields actively generates controversy with his attacks on Israel
The one-time UFC welterweight title challenger is no stranger to using X as a platform through which he takes aim at his ideological opposition, be it trans people or Israel. He recently made the antisemitic claim that Israel was founded by terrorists.
"3 separate terrorist organizations helped found Israel. All 3 leaders went on to become leaders of Israel. People in the Middle East saw how well terrorism worked for Jews and later went on to copy their tactics."
He recently attacked polarizing clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson on X, joining Andrew Tate in a joint criticism over the former's support of Israel.