Following the brutal murder of Charlie Kirk, antisemitic conspiracy theorists have blamed Israel for his assassination.
By Rachel Avraham
The horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk, an American Evangelical media personality who was a close friend of Israel, has shocked the entire world. However, like following the September 11th terror attacks and the assassination of late US President John F. Kennedy, antisemites have taken advantage of this grave tragedy in order to blame Israel for this tragedy, just as in the past antisemites blamed Jews for the Black Death in Europe or the death of Jesus Christ. What is more shocking is that antisemites on social media continue to blame Israel for the brutal murder, even though the American authorities have already arrested Tyler Robinson as the main suspect accused of the crime.
According to the Combat Antisemitism Movement, “In the aftermath of Kirk’s assassination, antisemites on social media drew attention to a nearly month-old X post by Harrison Smith. A journalist for the far-right media outlet Infowars, Smith had previously accused Israel of murdering Jeffrey Epstein and of preventing President Donald Trump from releasing the so-called “Epstein files.” He also falsely asserted that a “global government” was running world affairs from Israel.”
The Combat Antisemitism Movement continued, “In an X post dated August 13, Harrison claimed that he was told by someone close to Kirk that “Charlie thinks Israel will kill him if he turns against them.” Following the shooting of Kirk, antisemites quickly turned to this month-old post to “prove” that Israel had murdered Kirk for “turning against them”.” According to the Combat Antisemitism Movement, another reason why antisemites are blaming Israel for the murder of Charlie Kirk is because he was attacked in the neck, which they claim is an exclusively IDF method of killing.
For example, the Anti-Defamation League noted that Anti-Zionist influencer account Syrian Girl seized on this narrative, alleging in a since-deleted X post that Kirk was “changing his views” about Israel and that “the Israelis would kill him before they let that happen.” In another X post, she claimed that “targeting the neck is very IDF coded,” in reference to the Israel Defense Forces.
The Anti-Defamation League added, “Others have also cited Kirk’s platforming of Dave Smith, a comedian and commentator who is highly critical of Israel, as Israel’s supposed rationale for killing Kirk. Charlie Kirk moderated a July 13, 2025, debate between Smith and Josh Hammer at TPUSA’s Student Action Summit.”
According to the Anti-Defamation League, based on the facts alleged above, these posts on social media suggest “Israel or Jewish organizations colluded to have Kirk killed because he had supposedly become more critical of Israel, or that Israel suspected he would eventually “turn on them.” Since September 10, there have been over 10,000 posts on X that include the phrase, “Israel killed Charlie Kirk.””
“Pretty obvious that Israel ordered the hit after Charlie started noticing,” claimed far-right conspiracy theorist and prolific antisemite Stew Peters, in an X post, using the antisemitic “noticing” trope, the Anti-Defamation League reported. In another post, he lamented that Kirk became a “martyr for the JQ,” or Jewish Question, a term from the 1800s used by modern antisemites to state their antisemitic bona fides and indicate that Jewish presence in society is a problem, the anti-Defamation League added.
Ian Carroll, an anti-Zionist X influencer with over a million followers who has spread antisemitic conspiracy theories, also directly accused Israel of the assassination. In a post with over 10 million views and 100,000 likes, he claimed that the killing would be a “turning point of US Israel relations” because “he was their friend” and “they murdered him in front of his family.” He added, “Israel just shot themselves.”
According to the Anti-Defamation League, “Some anti-Israel conspiracy theorists suggested that Israel worked with the U.S. government to have Kirk assassinated with the goal of framing or fueling existing biases against Muslim people. Several posts noted the fact that the shooting occurred one day before the anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks.”
The Combat Antisemitism Movement noted that following the brutal assassination of Charlie Kirk, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to X to condemn the murder and offer his condolences to the Kirk family. However, antisemites responded with a series of posts on X, which were quite cruel and dehumanizing towards Israel.
Jackson Hickle tweeted on X: “I do think it’s odd that a Prime Minister who is in the middle of bombing 7 countries halfway across the world tweeted about Charlie Kirk minutes after his assassination.” Joe Biggs added: “I wouldn’t be surprised if it comes out you were behind this.” Daniel Hakikakjou added, “I would not be surprised if it came out that he was the one who ordered it.” These were only a small sample of the antisemitic tweets that Israel’s Prime Minister received in response to condemning the brutal murder of Charlie Kirk on X and offering condolences to his family.
According to the Combat Antisemitism Movement, “Searching for a rationale for their false assertions, antisemitic social media users claimed that Israel targeted Kirk because he was beginning to “notice” the country’s supposed influence and control over American politics. The rapid dissemination of these unfounded and malicious accusations validated recent research highlighting the post-COVID emergence of social media as a means to propagate conspiracy theories.”
The Combat Antisemitism Movement concluded, “Such conspiracy theories are designed to manipulate those rightly enraged by the assassination, potentially fomenting violence against Jews or Jewish institutions. Social media companies have a duty to remove from their platforms disinformation and hateful content that falsely assigns blame to Jews for this despicable crime. Failure to do so only increases the risks of violent retribution, fueled by festering, baseless grievances against a people falsely accused of a monstrous crime.”
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