While conservatives and liberals in America debate the motive behind the suspected shooter’s action, Netanyahu, in a video statement posted on X, said there has also been a rumor that Israel was involved.
“Somebody has fabricated a monstrous big lie, that Israel had something to do with Charlie Kirk’s horrific murder,” Netanyahu said. “This is insane, it is false, it is outrageous.”
“Charlie Kirk was a giant, a once-in-a-century talent who defended freedom, defended America, defended our common Judeo-Christian civilization. Charlie loved Israel, he loved the Jewish people, he told me so in a letter that he sent me just a few months ago.”
Netanyahu said Kirk had encouraged him to make the case directly to the U.S. people about how vital Israel was for U.S. national security and he cited Kirk as saying: “It pains me to see support for Israel slip away.”
Netanyahu did not refer to the debate in U.S. conservative circles about support for Israel, but acknowledged Kirk had at times disagreed with him.
“Now if Charlie disagreed with a policy of mine or a decision, here and there, not only did I not mind, I welcomed it. This is the essence of Charlie…and I knew that his suggestions always came from the heart.”
Conservative broadcaster Tucker Carlson, has been among those discussing Kirk’s relationship with Israel and its leaders.
Carlson said on his show this week, Kirk “didn’t hate Jews, he loved Jews…he loved the state of Israel, he loved going there, he did not like Bibi Netanyahu, he said that to me many times,” statements which other conservatives like Candace Owens and Matt Gaetz, have backed up.
Carlson said that Kirk felt Netanyahu was a “destructive force, he was appalled by what was happening in Gaza, he was above all resentful that he believed Netanyahu was using the United States to prosecute his wars for the benefit of his country.”
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, has also been critical of Netanyahu and has called for people to speak out about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and halt military aid to Israel. In July, she became the first Republican lawmaker to refer to the Israeli action in Gaza as “genocide.”
