Elon Musk quotes Jesus citing his child’s death to defend Alex Jones’ Twitter ban: “I have no mercy for anyone who would take advantage of the death of children.”

Elon Musk has recently won the hearts and minds of many free speech advocates after recently buying Twitter and restoring several high-profile accounts that had previously been suspended. The most notable of these newly recovered accounts is that of former President Donald Trump. Kathy Griffin, Jordan Peterson and the Babylon Bee were also welcomed back onto the platform.

but musk came into conflict with fellow free speech purists when he steadfastly refused to reinstate controversial “Infowars” host Alex Jones. Jones famously denied the horrific 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre and openly discussed his skepticism about police and news reports of the shooting shortly after the incident on his radio program.

Although Jones later apologized for this denial, he still faced discouraging complaints from outraged members of the victims’ families. Several lawsuits filed on her behalf accused Jones of profiting from the deaths of her loved ones by denying on his popular radio program that they ever happened. His radio programming is supported by lucrative deals from corporate sponsors, so the lawsuits claimed he essentially monetized their grief. The jury sided with the families in the trials, and Jones has since been ordered to pay the families nearly $1 billion in damages.

Jones was permanently banned from many social media platforms — including Facebook, YouTube, Spotify, and Twitter — in 2018 for his Sandy Hook statements and other controversial arguments. Facebook claimed it banned Jones “for violating our hate speech and bullying policies”.

Although Facebook, part of Meta, has yet to budge and reinstate Jones or Trump, Musk and Twitter initially seemed keen to restore even controversial accounts out of respect for freedom of speech. After Trump’s Twitter account was restored, many clamored for Jones to be restored. But last Friday, Musk flatly refused to consider it.

Then, in a series of tweet replies late Sunday night, Musk finally explained his reasons for not reinstating Jones on Twitter.

When neuroscientist Sam Harris asked why Jones should not be restored, Musk dodged the direct question and iinstead of adroitly referred the Sandy Hook shooting to Harris, a fervent atheist, by quoting Jesus from Matthew: “Suffer little children, and forbid them not to come unto me; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

That response, however, did not satisfy online entrepreneur known as Kim Dotcom, who defended Jones by reminding Musk that Jones had apologized for Sandy Hooks’ claims that Jones’ so-called “conspiracy theories” were often proven correct, and so on other “serial liars” are allowed on the platform. For these reasons, Dotcom argued, Jones should be reinstated.

At the time, Musk admitted that the decision to continue the Jones ban is personal to him too: “My first born child died in my arms. I felt his last heartbeat. I don’t know anyone who exploits the deaths of children for money, politics or fame.”

In 2002, Musk’s first child, Nevada Alexander, died of cot death at just 10 weeks old. Although medical teams temporarily resuscitated the child, little Nevada spent three days on life support before Musk and then-wife Justine Wilson decided to remove him from the machines.

Wilson and Musk had five other children before divorcing in 2008. Musk also has two children with the singer known as Grimes and twins with Shivon Zilis, one of Musk’s business partners.

For his part, Jones said he understands Musk’s reasons for continuing to ban him on Twitter. He also claimed that he has little interest in ever returning to the platform.

“I understand why Musk did this,” Jones said in a video released Sunday. “He has the [Anti-Defamation League] and the Democratic Party on him. He is dealing with the EU trying to silence him right now.

“Well, am I blaming Elon Musk for this? No, ladies and gentlemen. And honestly, I don’t care if I’m brought back to Twitter,” Jones continued.

“I’m the most controversial figure in the world,” Jones added, “because I’m the most threatening new world order to the platform before he can even think about it.”