By Staff
Conspiracy theories suggesting that Israel was behind the deadly shooting of popular conservative political activist Charlie Kirk began surfacing immediately after the tragedy unfolded on September 10, 2025. This was despite the fact that the 31-year-old co-founder of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) had been a staunch public supporter of Israel and its Prime Minister, Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu.
In a video posted on X, Netanyahu called the rumors “insane, false, and outrageous.” Appearing on Fox News, he read from a letter he had received from Kirk a few months prior and discussed a recent phone call they had.
“He was an extraordinary friend,” Netanyahu shared. “He wrote me a letter on May 2 of this year. He said, ‘One of my greatest joys as a Christian is advocating for Israel and forming alliances to defend Judeo-Christian civilization.’ A few weeks before the tragedy yesterday, I called him and spoke to him, and I said, ‘Please come to Israel.’ I invited him to Israel, and sadly that visit will not take place, but he was a defender of our common Judeo-Christian civilization. He was unbelievably excited to walk in the footsteps of Jesus this year. He valued our bond, the bond between America and Israel.”
Athough most viewed the message as respectful, some prominent influencers on the right attacked Netanyahu, accusing him of trying to “hijack” Kirk’s legacy by misrepresenting his relationship with Israel.
Political commentator and former communications director at TPUSA, Candace Owens, who also shared a special bond with Kirk, demanded that Netanyahu release the entire letter to provide the full context. As she continued to weigh in, it became clear that she believed Kirk no longer supported Israel at the time of his death, and that his change of heart angered Netanyahu and the Israeli government.
To support her theory she shared screenshots from a group chat that took place just 48 hours prior to Kirk’s assassination, in which he was clearly upset over losing $2 million in funding from a Jewish donor for refusing to cancel Tucker Carlson, who had become an increasingly vocal critic of Israel and Netanyahu, from speaking at TPUSA events.
In the group chat Kirk shocked his conservative collegues when he said, “I’m thinking of inviting Candace,” before concluding, “Leaving me no choice but to leave the pro-Israel cause.”
Inviting Owens, who was let go from The Daily Wire in 2024 for making antisemitic comments and was named ‘Antisemite of the Year’ by StopAntisemitism, would have led to additional conservative donors withdrawing their support, indicating that Kirk was likely just venting his frustration to confidants about the loss of one significant donation.
Owens, however, believes—or is projecting to her audience she believes—that Kirk was serious about abandoning the pro-Israel cause he had championed throughout his adult life, and was aligning more closely with her highly critical stance on Israel and Jews. However, during a speaking engagement just three weeks before his death, Kirk was directly asked about Owens’ antisemitism and unequivocally shared his opinion regarding his once-close friend and her extreme criticisms of the Jewish community.
“There is a corner of the internet populated by individuals who want to point fingers and blame the Jews for all their problems. Everybody, this is demonic; it comes from the pit of hell and should not be tolerated, period!”
Undeterred, or unaware of Kirk’s comment, Owens continued to assert Kirk had flipped sides, and was “done with the Jews.” She also claimed he had been “threatened” and “intimidated” by billionaire Jewish donor Bill Ackman six weeks before his assassination during a meeting at Ackman’s home in the Hamptons. She described the gathering as an “intervention” that was hastily arranged due to Kirk’s recent criticisms of Israel, which included challenging questions that some interpreted as antisemitic.
Ackman addressed the allegations in a scathing response he posted on X.
“This afternoon @RealCandaceO slandered me by accusing me of ‘staging an intervention’ with Charlie Kirk in which ‘threats were made’ with respect to his supposed ‘evolving stance’ on Israel at an event I hosted in the Hamptons.
Candace also intimated that I ‘blackmail[ed]’ Charlie. On the show, Candace said that she ‘would be very happy for me to dispute this narrative.’ While it pains me to drive more traffic to her program, I am responding here to clear my name. It saddens me that we live in a society where social media influencers seek to monetize the tragic death of Charlie Kirk.”
After clarifying that he has never threatened or blackmailed anyone, including Kirk, he went on to explain that Kirk was the one who reached out to him, expressing concern about how young conservatives were growing tired of defending Israel, and other relevant issues. With Ackman’s help, Kirk hoped to identify and mentor a new generation of “Charlie Kirk’s.”
Ackman’s rebuttal didn’t faze Owens. Armed with Kirk’s own words, she and a group of internet sleuths presented theories—some of which were supported only by her dreams—suggesting that Kirk had fallen out of favor with Netanyahu. They claimed that a coordinated multinational military operation, led by Israel and French President Emmanuel Macron—who’s married to 73-year-old First Lady Brigitte Macron, who filed a defamation lawsuit against Owens for alleging she was born a man—along with assistance from the United States, was responsible for Kirk’s assassination.
To support the theory, Owens presented spreadsheets she alleges confirm 73 instances where Egyptian planes had been following Kirk and his widow, Erika, over several years—the significance of which remains unclear.
Owens also featured former U.S. Army Special Forces officer Mitch Snow on her podcast, who claimed with “95 to 99%” certainty that he saw Erika Kirk—a woman he had never met—in a hotel lobby near Fort Huachuca military base in Arizona the night before Kirk’s assassination, noting her “really rare eyes.” The insinuation being that she was meeting with members of the United States military to help plan and coordinate the assassination of her late husband.
According to Owens, additional “evidence” gathered by her team, suggests that Kirk’s closest friends at TPUSA were also involved or complicit in his assassination, citing inconsistencies in their stories and a slow response to her inquiries. Due to their alleged betrayal, further supported by Snow’s account that he also saw the head of Kirk’s security team in Fort Huachuca when the alleged meeting with military officials took place, Owens called for anyone who donated to TPUSA to demand refunds—in what many point out is an attempt to destroy the company and movement Kirk built.
Despite Owens insisting that the evidence regarding Egyptian planes had been substantiated, skeptical followers dove deeper and ultimately debunked the spreadsheets, citing glaring inconsistencies, such as the planes not actually being in the cities or states listed on the days and times in the report.
Snow’s credibility was also called into question after it was discovered that he had a sordid, conspiracy-riddled past, which includes multiple documented allegations of physical abuse against women. The allegations were highlighted by InfoWars host Alex Jones and popular podcaster Tim Pool, who was one of the first high-profile influencers to push back on Owens’ claims.
As the vicious attacks against Erika Kirk and TPUSA continued, many called on Kirk’s friends with large platforms to denounce Owens. Mega-star Megyn Kelly came under fire for refusing to speak out against her friend Owens—or Tucker Carlson who recently had what’s been described in conservative circles as a “friendly chat” with unapologetic racist and antisemite, Nick Fuentes—someone Charlie Kirk openly despised.
Kelly, who was ridiculed for referring to the smear campaign against Kirk’s widow as the “Erika-Candace conflict”, rather than the vile one-sided attack it was, responded to her harshest critics—some of whom unfairly labeled her inaction as “racist and antisemitic”—by clarifying she was standing by her friends out of loyalty, and wanted Owens to continue “asking questions.”
In their discussions, Kelly and Carlson aligned with Owens, taking Kirk’s words from a private conversation—”Leaving me no choice but to leave the pro-Israel cause”—at face value, disregarding his underlying emotions. They implied that Kirk’s views on Israel had shifted so dramatically due to the unwarranted criticism he received from pro-Israel organizations, including the ADL, that he was effectively switching allegiances. Given that Owens, Kelly, and Carlson have all switched party affiliations multiple times throughout their careers, they believed Kirk could also abandon his core principles almost overnight.
However, Kirk’s support for Israel never wavered, even acknowledging that the backlash he faced might stem from the “hyper-paranoid” defensive posture adopted by many who seek to eliminate any anti-Israel sentiment—a forgivable error, especially considering the heightened tensions resulting from the ongoing war in Gaza, along with the painful memories of the world’s silence and inaction that contributed to the Holocaust.
In Kirk’s full letter to Netanyahu (page 64 of Fall 2025 Recap of Rounder Magazine—link below), which Owens requested to be released and was later published by the New York Post, it’s evident that Netanyahu’s depiction of Kirk’s friendship and admiration for Israel is accurate, and contradicts the “180-degree” shift suggested by Owens, Kelly, and Carlson. One could argue that it is they who are attempting to “hijack” Kirk’s legacy, not Netanyahu, in order to further disseminate the negative propaganda the trio has propagated against Israel. In his video message, Netanyahu alluded to influencers being funded by Qatar. Carlson has denied being part of this group.
Ironically, Carlson is now leveraging his media company, TCN, which received an initial investment of $15 million from 1789 Capital, a private investment group in which Kirk was an early investor, to forge close ties with Qatar, a country that has a well-documented history of sheltering and supporting radical Islamist terrorists, including Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Furthermore, Qatar has donated billions to American universities in an attempt to influence the minds of the very youth Kirk aimed to reach. That investment appears to be yielding results, as evidenced by a Harvard poll referenced by Kirk in his letter to Netanyahu, which indicates that 48% of Americans aged 18-24 now support Hamas over Israel.
Read the full article in the Fall 2025 RECAP issue of Rounder Magazine
Lead image of Candace Owens, Mitch Snow, and insert by GiveSendGo. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump during press conference at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida on Monday, December 29, 2025 by Daniel Torok/The White House. (L to R) Lady Victoria Starmer, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, President Emmanuel Macron, and his wife First Lady of France Brigitte Macron by Dinendra Haria/Alamy Live News. Jack Posobiec and Megyn Kelly speaking at Turning Point’s America Fest 2025 in Phoenix, AZ. Dec. 19, 2025 by Laura Brett/Sipa USA/Alamy Live News. Tucker Carlson speaking to 30,000 attendees on the first day of AmericaFest 2025 in Phoenix, AZ. Dec. 18, 2025 by Carrie Schreck/Alamy Live News.
