Israel formally states it did not kill Charlie Kirk

In a sign of the times, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video statement denying a massive conspiracy that had overtaken the MAGA discourse: that Israel was behind the death of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk.

“Somebody has fabricated a monstrous big lie — that Israel had something to do with Charlie Kirk’s horrific murder,” he said in a social media video posted Thursday morning Israeli time on X. “This is insane, it is false, it is outrageous.”

In the days after Kirk’s death, Netanyahu has faced a tsunami of hostility from the MAGA right after he made several statements portraying Kirk as a friend. Although Kirk had been deeply pro-Israel, he had begun criticizing Israel and Netanyahu’s government for their invasion of Gaza — an increasingly popular stance among younger right-wing voters.

On Monday, Candace Owens, an influencer who had been pushed out of Turning Point for her comments about Adolf Hitler, suggested on her podcast that Israel was trying to silence a high-profile MAGA critic. She claimed, without evidence, that Kirk had been “threatened” by hedge fund billionaire and MAGA ally Bill Ackman, who is Jewish and pro-Israel, to change his position.

“Now, some are peddling these disgusting rumors — perhaps out of obsession, perhaps with Qatari funding,” said Netanyahu.

Though she’s one of the very few, if any, who’s openly tied Kirk’s death to Israel, influencers closer to the MAGA mainstream have suggested that Kirk was facing pressure from the Netanyahu government to dial back on his critiques. Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson, two high-profile conservative podcasters, recently claimed on their shows that Kirk had told them in private conversations that he’d become increasingly uncomfortable with Israeli pressure to dial back on the criticism.

Carlson also claimed that Kirk had told him he “hated” Netanyahu. “Benjamin Netanyahu really tormented Charlie,” he said Wednesday on his show, speaking to Kelly. “We talked about it many times. He tormented Charlie, and his advocates tormented Charlie. For him to run around saying that Charlie died for Israel. It’s just too much. It’s just disgusting.”