Following the shooting death of American right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials rushed to pay tribute to the 31-year-old activist.
Kirk, a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, was declared dead on Wednesday, prompting a wave of eulogies that portrayed him as a steadfast defender of Israel.
“A lion-hearted friend of Israel, he fought the lies and stood tall for Judeo-Christian civilization,” Netanyahu wrote on social media. “I spoke to him only two weeks ago and invited him to Israel. Sadly, that visit will not take place.”
The concerted effort to frame Kirk as a champion of Israel comes as many influential voices in the U.S. conservative movement have become increasingly critical of Washington’s unconditional support for its Middle East ally.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called Kirk an “incredible friend” and a “fearless warrior for truth and freedom.” Similarly, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir praised Kirk for warning against what he termed “the collusion between the global Left and radical Islam,” which he called “the greatest danger to humanity today.” No suspect has been detained in the killing, and the motive remains unclear.
In his final public statements, Kirk had promoted the unfounded theory that Islam and the political left were collaborating to undermine Western nations. “Islam is the sword the left is using to slit the throat of America,” he posted on social media the day before his death.
While Kirk was a staunch supporter of Israel on many fronts—recently echoing Israeli officials by dismissing the UN-declared famine in Gaza as “pure visual warfare”—his positions were not monolithic. Reflecting the “America First” wing of the conservative movement, he sometimes questioned the benefits of the U.S.-Israel alliance.
As Israeli leaders pushed for military action against Iran in June, Kirk warned that Trump’s “MAGA base” was firmly opposed to U.S. involvement. He also occasionally broke from pro-Israel hardliners on free speech issues, opposing a proposed law to penalize boycotts of Israel and expressing frustration with accusations of anti-Semitism for any criticism of the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC.
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