- A Tesla Berlin worker appears to make a gesture linked to Hamas in an anniversary photo.
- The image was shared on social media to celebrate a production milestone at Giga Berlin.
- Tesla quietly swapped the photo, replacing the worker’s arm with a peace victory sign.
Earlier in June, even as it recorded its fifth consecutive month of decline in Europe, Tesla hit a major milestone: the production of its eighth millionth vehicle at the Berlin Gigafactory. To celebrate, they posted a group photo of employees marking the moment. But something seemed off.
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Not everyone immediately noticed, but one of the workers appeared to make a gesture linked to the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The salute was quickly edited out and replaced with a V sign, which symbolizes victory and peace.
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The anniversary post first appeared on X on June 6, with the simple caption, “Produced our 8 millionth vehicle at Giga Berlin.” CEO Elon Musk, who isn’t exactly known for being careful with his own gestures, retweeted the photo without noticing the issue. But someone must’ve caught on, because the post was quickly deleted and replaced with a new version.
A Peek Behind the Edit
The edited version quickly garnered over 577,000 views and 10,000 likes on X. Despite this, the original image is still floating around on various sites, including Teslarati.
If you place the two images side by side, it’s hard not to notice the changes. The worker who’d made the problematic gesture is still there, but now he has what appears to be a conveniently placed fake arm, giving the much safer victory salute.
Clearly, they were trying to make the arms match the other workers in the shot. The only problem? Part of the original arm is still visible on the left side, and another worker’s arm, who’s awkwardly sitting in the background, has mysteriously vanished.
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Tesla / X
Andre Thierig, Senior Director of Manufacturing at Giga Berlin, shared the edited photo on LinkedIn the following day, congratulating the team for the achievement. But, strangely, neither Tesla nor Musk ever mentioned the original gesture or the fact that the photo had been edited at all.
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As reported by Handelsblatt, the use of Hamas symbols is banned under German law, which prohibits them “publicly, in a meeting, or in writings, audio or visual media, images or representations.” So, by sharing that original image, Tesla might have opened itself up to some legal headaches.
Germany’s Federal Ministry of the Interior has been quite clear on the matter: “The activities of the Hamas organization violate criminal law and are directed against the idea of international understanding.” This policy came on the heels of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israeli territory, which ignited the ongoing war in Gaza and has caused over 80,000 reported casualties, making it one of the most devastating events in the long-running Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
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Congratulations Tesla Giga Berlin team!! https://t.co/IpekyFE39y
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 6, 2025
Produced our 8 millionth vehicle at Giga Berlin pic.twitter.com/6n0fbLDNqY
— Tesla (@Tesla) June 6, 2025