Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Is Also Mourning Charlie Kirk

Although he didn't sit in any formal role inside the U.S. government, conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk has earned tributes not just from politicians in America, but also from leaders across the world. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was among the people who offered their thoughts about Kirk's death and the legacy he left behind.

Netanyahu, who has become a hugely controversial figure in American politics as he has prosecuted the war in Gaza, has aligned himself pretty closely with the American right. Here's what we know about his statement about Kirk.

"Charlie Kirk was murdered for speaking truth and defending freedom," Netanyahu wrote on X (formerly Twitter). "A lion-hearted friend of Israel, he fought the lies and stood tall for Judeo-Christian civilization. I spoke to him only two weeks ago and invited him to Israel. Sadly, that visit will not take place. We lost an incredible human being. His boundless pride in America and his valiant belief in free speech will leave a lasting impact. Rest in peace, Charlie Kirk."

In spite of Netanyahu's claim, we don't know for certain why Kirk was killed, as the shooter is still at large. Like many figures on the American right, though, Netanyahu suggested that Kirk was murdered for his beliefs and that he was murdered by someone on the left.

After posting his own message of mourning, Netanyahu retweeted a video of President Trump in which he delivered a similar condemnation of the "violent left."

Netanyahu's statement was aligned with his American allies, but members of his cabinet also weighed in and offered more specific thoughts about how his death might reverberate through Israeli society. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called Kirk a "true friend of Israel" and suggested that he was someone who "engaged in genuine dialogue." Smotrich then went on to offer a characterization of the people he saw as Kirk's enemies.

“The other side did not want to engage in dialogue," he wrote on X. “They wanted to murder the messenger of a different opinion. And that is dangerous. Dangerous for Israel, dangerous for the United States, and dangerous for the free world.”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, meanwhile, suggested that a similar attack could happen in Israel.

"The left in the U.S. murdered a man of the right,” he wrote. “We hope that their imitators in Israel won’t succeed. Words can kill.”

In a separate post, Ben Gvir wrote: “The collusion between the global Left and radical Islam is the greatest danger to humanity today. Charlie Kirk saw the danger and warned about it. But the bullets of the despicable murderer struck him.”

There is no evidence that definitively states what the political leanings of Kirk's killer were. The shooter is not yet in custody. In spite of that lack of certainty, though, all three of these prominent Israeli politicians rushed to use the incident as proof of the violence of their political opponents.