Hamza Shehryar
Since Charlie Kirk was killed on September 10, amongst the obfuscation and outright misrepresentation of his politics, and the weaponisation of his death by Trump and his cronies – with the support of establishment Democrats – to push the United States deeper into the depths of MAGA’s fascist dystopia, the Left has been caught off-guard. Some have been quick to condemn his killing and decry political violence, while others criticise the former for misrepresenting the life, politics and legacy of a heinous far-right figure. But among these divisions, an alternate perspective has emerged within segments of the global Left, one that is growing increasingly popular every passing day: Charlie Kirk was killed by Israel.
It’s not too surprising that this view has emerged. Over the last two years, during its genocide in Gaza, Israel has bombed sovereign countries, targeted journalists and activists, and unleashed a pervasive, all-reaching hasbara (propaganda) campaign to salvage its perpetually withering international standing. And Israel has, over the course of decades, also unleashed an assassination campaign that makes even the CIA’s pale in comparison – as is explored in extensive detail in Ronen Bergman’s book Rise and Kill First.
So, the presumption that Israel, which only two weeks ago killed 31 Yemeni journalists in a targeted attack – the second-deadliest recorded against journalists ever – would carry out a political assassination of an American citizen, even on US soil, is not far-fetched. Not least because Benjamin Netanyahu has, on multiple occasions, made statements explicitly saying that Israel did not kill Kirk, only fueling the flames for this theory among anti-Zionists the world over.
The words coming out of the mouth of Israel’s war-criminal prime minister must always be taken with scepticism; however, it is important to be critical in our justified criticism of Israel and the impunity with which it acts. Netanyahu is many things. He is a genocidaire, a racist Islamophobe, and a repulsive war criminal who has no regard for human life. But one thing he is not is stupid. The fact that he has, quite needlessly, made repeated statements regarding Kirk’s killing is telling, indicating that he sees a pragmatic purpose in keeping the rumour going. This was also pointed out by Drop Site News, whose September 18 newsletter stated: “Netanyahu’s decision to once again publicly deny the allegations gives oxygen to the storyline, suggesting Netanyahu paradoxically sees some public-relations benefit to it.”
The public-relations benefit is that it offers Israel another opportunity to misrepresent the anti-Zionist movement by making baseless accusations of blood libel and anti-semitism for its criticisms of Israel and Zionism for the horrors it continues to unleash on the people of Gaza and beyond. Simultaneously, giving this theory oxygen keeps the anti-Zionist and pro-Palestine movement fractured, and it also keeps the lid on the actual covert assassination operations that Israel continues to conduct with impunity.
At a time when perpetually increasing numbers of people, including those politically detached, are opening their eyes to the malicious weaponisation of anti-semitism by Israel to mask its genocidal lust, Israel has found itself determined to push harder to obfuscate and confuse. This has taken the form of a significantly increased propaganda budget, which has undoubtedly been at the core of the bile it continues to disseminate through advertising, including by working directly with Google.
Here, amidst its international standing falling to previously unfathomable lows, especially in the West, Israel seeks to manufacture victimhood and play to both imagined and real fears. The fears of the mostly liberal voices, to echo the concern that, as a result of Israel’s policies, Jews will be blamed for any and everything – a sentiment that makes people uncomfortable, especially as there has been an increase in incidents of anti-semitism as a result of Israel’s malicious conflation of Judaism with Zionism for its ethno-supremacist project. Fuelling the conspiracy theory that Israel killed Kirk does just that: it further weaponises anti-semitism to create rifts within the broad coalition of people around the world who are appalled by the genocide.
Indeed, to illustrate the absurdity of this theory, one need only reflect on the circumstances that led to its development. If Israel really wanted to eliminate the online personalities and content creators seriously committed to worsening its already ruined reputation and standing, why would it choose to assassinate one of its most fervent defenders?
Some point towards a seemingly mysterious change in Kirk’s attitudes regarding Israel, even though, until the moment he was killed, he spoke candidly, often with joy, about his contentment at the destruction of Gaza and the killing of Palestinian civilians.
“I used to say: ‘If you, as a gay person, would go to Gaza, they would throw you off of tall buildings.’ Now they don’t have any tall buildings left,” he gleefully exclaimed at an event, not long before he was killed. He quickly followed that comment up with: “Maybe you shouldn’t kill Jews, stupid Muslims.” Is this the behaviour of someone so “anti-Israel” that they must be taken out?
Let’s consider, as some claim, that in spite of all of this, Kirk was on the brink of a complete reversal – turning his unwavering support and loyalty to the state and government of Israel into indifference. Even in such a scenario, it would be imprudent for Israel to assassinate Kirk, and not the countless other online personalities who have already been outspoken in their criticisms of Israel, including on the far-right, for almost two years now, some of whom command larger platforms than Kirk did.
Any serious credence one may want to attach to the theory that Israel killed Kirk falls apart the moment one looks at the events and the political context surrounding this killing, with the backbone of the claim being little more than Netanyahu’s constant and seemingly unnecessary denials.
Again, Netanyahu is not stupid. He recognises that the weaponisation of this claim, its potential to create divisions within the anti-Zionist movement, and its capacity to mask Israel’s sophisticated killing machine all benefit Israel. In fact, when one is sceptical and critical of the assertion that Israel killed Kirk, unless they are already well-versed with Israel’s covert assassination machine, this may only make it likelier for them to assume that other claims of Israeli assassinations are unsubstantiated, even though that is far from the truth.
Lastly, it is frustrating to see so many who are rightly appalled by and enraged by Israel’s genocide have chosen to hyper-fixate on Kirk’s killing, with some even misrepresenting Kirk’s politics and legacy, and elevating him to the status of martyrdom. Not least because the horrors that Israel has subjected Gaza and the world in only the time since Kirk was killed are infinitely more important to focus on.
On the day Kirk was killed, Israel bombed the sixth sovereign country in a period of 72 hours. In the days since, it carried out brutal targeted strikes on Yemeni newspaper offices and has marked individuals on the boats that are a part of the Global Sumud Flotilla – a humanitarian non-violent mission to provide aid to the besieged people in Gaza – which includes activists, actors, and sitting members of parliament, including Greta Thunberg, Adèle Haenel, Mariana Mortágua and Rima Hassan, among others, as terrorists. All of this while it continues to kill and starve everyone in Gaza, with some estimates emerging now that Israel’s assault may have killed a third of Gaza’s pre-October 7 population.
Our focus should not move away from these realities, not least in the defence of the death of one of Israel’s most committed defenders, who never let any opportunity to be racist or Islamophobic slide. Fixating on tying Kirk’s death to Israel does little beyond taking focus away from the genocide and playing into the traps of Israel’s withering propaganda machine.
* Hamza Shehryar is a writer and journalist. He covers film, culture, and global politics.
Source: https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/10/01/israel-didnt-kill-charlie-kirk/
