‘Murdered for speaking truth’: Netanyahu and US Jewish leaders mourn Charlie Kirk
A gunman shot the conservative firebrand at a Utah campus event
Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk at the White House in May. Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
By Louis Keene and Ron KampeasSeptember 10, 2025
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk was “murdered for speaking truth,” a cry of grief that highlighted how close the alliance between the Israeli and American right has become.
A gunman shot and killed Kirk while he was speaking to college students in Utah. FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement that authorities had taken a suspect into custody.
“Charlie Kirk was murdered for speaking truth and defending freedom,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “A lion-hearted friend of Israel, he fought the lies and stood tall for Judeo-Christian civilization.”
Netanyahu was one of an array of Jewish and Israeli leaders who expressed their horror. The Orthodox Union called the killing a “horrific act of political violence” and the Jewish Federations of North America likewise said it was “horrified.”
“We extend our prayers and send our deepest sympathies to his loved ones during this difficult time,” JFNA said.
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs, a group often identified with progressive outlooks, decried political violence. “We should all be horrified by this — and make unequivocally clear this violence has no place in our politics or our society,” the group said.
But the Israeli reaction — unusually fierce for a non-elected official — reflected how Israel’s government has intensified its outreach to the American right since Donald Trump’s reelection last year to the presidency. Israel wants to nip in the bud skepticism of the U.S.-Israel alliance among some Trump supporters. Kirk, who founded the hugely influential Turning Point USA youth movement, was a key and enthusiastic conduit to that cohort.
Before Kirk’s death was announced, Netanyahu posted on X that he was praying for Kirk, as did his minister for Diaspora affairs, Amichai Chikli. The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, added his prayers and said, “Truth cannot, and will not be silenced.” Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right minister of national security, said he was “devastated” by the shooting.
Kirk was one of Trump’s loyal boosters.
Trump in announcing Kirk’s death said he was “Great and even Legendary.” He ordered flags flown at half mast.
The American Jewish right was similarly rattled by the assassination.
“RIP to an American treasure,” wrote Dov Hikind, a Trump booster and a former New York State Assemblyman on X. “Tragic day for our country. 💔”
“Aish, the Jewish people and the pro-Israel community deeply mourn the senseless assassination of Charlie Kirk,” said Rabbi Steven Burg, the chairman of the Orthodox Jewish outreach group. “He was a steadfast ally of Israel and a courageous advocate for our people.”
Shabbos Kestenbaum, a conservative American Jewish activist, urged his followers: “Please stop what you’re doing and pray for our friend Charlie Kirk. Many in the Jewish community are reciting chapters from the Book of Psalms, and I ask you do the same. Something is deeply broken in America. The political violence must END. GOD HELP AMERICA.”
Going to thread some of the reaction from American Jewish leaders and organizations to the assassination of Charlie Kirk below ⬇️
— Louis Keene (@thislouis) September 10, 2025
Kirk was addressing an outdoor crowd of several hundred people on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, when he was shot once in the chest or neck area, according to videos of the incident uploaded to social media and verified by people in attendance. No other shots were fired.
Kirk, 31, weathered frequent accusations of antisemitism as he rose to prominence as the founder of Turning Point USA. As recently as this April, he went on a rant on his show saying that Jews deny their whiteness and accusing them of anti-white hatred.
“Jewish communities have been pushing the exact kind of hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them,” he said.
And in a spirited defense of Elon Musk — himself under fire for antisemitic dog whistling — Kirk said “some of the largest financiers of left-wing anti-white causes have been Jewish Americans.”
Kirk had denied any antisemitic intent, touting his advocacy for Israel as an evangelical Christian.
For a while, it seemed possible that Kirk’s baggage would block his assimilation into the Republican mainstream. More established conservatives once said his presence in the party signaled an antisemitism problem. But the longtime Trump supporter — Turning Point was one of the sponsors of the Jan. 6, 2021, rally falsely claiming Trump won the 2020 election — spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention, and in Trump’s second term was considered part of the president’s close circle.
JTA contributed to this report.
