Charlie Kirk: His Own Words on Israel and Religion

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Since Charlie Kirk's assassination, countless tributes and testimonies have poured in about the kind of friend he was.

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What stands out the most to me is not just the sheer number of people who have spoken about their friendship with him, but the remarkable range and diversity of those individuals.

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In addition to the time that he devoted to producing content, traveling, and memorizing facts for his on -campus debates,

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Charlie Kirk clearly had a remarkable capacity for building and sustaining relationships on a large scale.

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Some of the controversies that have emerged since Charlie Kirk's death center around differing impressions his friends had of his views, particularly on Israel.

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Was Charlie Kirk pro -Israel? Columnist Josh Hammer claimed that less than 24 hours before Kirk's appearance at Utah Valley University, the two of them were on a

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Zoom call, talking above all about the anti -Israel questions they expected to receive on the campus.

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He actually did speak for the last time less than 24 hours before the assassination happened.

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We had a Zoom call, a friend of mine, him, a couple of his producers. It was a small call. We were literally talking above all about the anti -Israel questions they expected to receive on this campus tour.

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And we were kind of talking him through talking points and strategy and how to deal with these expected hostile questions.

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And what Charlie was essentially trying to do was he was essentially trying to figure out how to navigate this to keep the

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Nick Fuentes, neo -Nazi, Groyper stuff at bay while trying to meet the younger generation, the

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Gen Z folks who are pretty wobbly on this issue, kind of meet them on their own terms. Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, said that months before the assassination, he received a letter from Kirk in which he wrote, one of my greatest joys as a

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Christian is advocating for Israel and forming alliances with Jews to protect Judeo -Christian civilization.

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Charlie loved Israel. He loved the Jewish people. He told me so in a letter that he sent me just a few months ago.

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One of my greatest joys as a Christian, he said, is advocating for Israel and forming alliances with Jews to protect

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Judeo -Christian civilization. Or was Charlie becoming anti -Israel? Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene posted a text message from Kirk asking her to debate against AIPAC with someone other than him.

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Tucker Carlson claimed that Charlie believed Netanyahu was a very destructive force. That he was appalled by what was happening in Gaza.

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And that some of his pro -Israel donors tormented Charlie Kirk until the day that he died for platforming

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Tucker. He did not like Bibi Netanyahu and he said that to me many times and he said it to people around him many times.

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He felt that Bibi Netanyahu was a very destructive force. He was appalled by what was happening in Gaza.

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He was above all resentful that he believed Netanyahu was using the

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United States to prosecute his wars for the benefit of his country. He was dependent to a great extent on his donors, of course.

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It's a non -profit. And they went after him and tormented him. Not all, of course, many were supportive.

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But the ones who were offended by my speech, and there was a small, very intense group who were, tormented

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Charlie Kirk until the day he died. Candace Owens shared a text message in which Charlie seemed to indicate he was concerned that speech censorship was coming to America to clamp down on perceived anti -Semitism.

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After watching numerous public statements from Kirk on the subject of Israel and anti -Semitism within the past year, it seems reconcilable that Kirk was generally pro -Israel, believed the media was lying about Israel's contribution to conditions in Gaza, and also thought anti -Semitism as an ideology was a dangerous threat.

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On Shabbat, Hamas invaded Israel, deciding to go recklessly to music concerts, to homes, to kibbutzes, and taking 200 -plus hostages.

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They knew what they were doing. In one of the most cloistered urban environments on the planet, 2 million people live in a place where it's impossible to wage war.

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Impossible. Where they wear civilian clothing, they violate every tenet of the Geneva Convention, and the IDF, when they do something right, they get no credit.

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When they do life -saving surgeries of a Gazan child, they get no credit. When they drive leaflets, drop leaflets, they get no credit.

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But when they happen to bomb a place where they are operating their military from, which we now know from third -party verified sources, hundreds of Hamas military operations are in mosques, schools, and hospitals.

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The only operation at empty to blame is the leadership of Hamas, not the Israeli government, for fighting this defensive war after they were invaded.

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There is a good guy, and there is a bad guy. I hate being lied to, and I hate being propagandized.

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And this weekend, there was an all -out propaganda campaign trying to make it seem as if Israel is intentionally starving the people of Gaza.

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I hate being lied to. There is a corner of the internet of people that want to point and blame the

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Jews for all their problems. Everybody, this is demonic, and it's on the pit of hell. He also is genuinely concerned that criticism of Israel would be targeted as anti -Semitism, that some of his pro -Israel donors were pressuring him, and that America was too influenced by Israeli interests.

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I think we need to have the prudence to reject the Jew hate. Like, okay, we're not going to put up with that, that's dumb.

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But also, if you call everyone an anti -Semite, if they don't take a puritanical view of the

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Netanyahu government, then I think that's, it's bad for everybody. I'm an American, okay?

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I represent this country, and I don't even understand that paradigm.

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But Megan, I think you would agree with this, and I want to make sure we really zero in on this. Personality types like you, myself, and Tucker, the more that you guys privately and publicly call our character into question, which is not isolated, right?

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Megan, it would be one thing if it was one text or two texts. It is dozens of texts.

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Yes. Then we start to say, hold the boat here. And to be fair, some of my really good

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Jewish friends are like, that's not all of us, it's all, but these are leaders too, though, right? These are stakeholders, right?

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How many of you guys think when a lawmaker, and a man I respect like Ted Cruz, uses the

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Bible to justify aid to Israel, doesn't even know the verse, do you guys think that's not the best way to approach this?

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Raise your hand. Okay. But interpreting Charlie Kirk's views on Israel or Jewish interests is not the only topic causing confusion.

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His religious beliefs are also being questioned. Though he was a committed Protestant Christian who attended

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Rob McCoy's church, which is part of Calvary Chapel, and though he voiced disagreements with Roman Catholicism numerous times, even recently,

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Candace Owens claimed that Charlie was on the brink of changing some of his perspectives, and that he was praying the rosary and going to Mass.

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Tucker Carlson also claimed that Charlie Kirk was very interested in Eastern Orthodoxy.

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Am I a Christian if I don't believe in Mariology? I believe that there are, personally, some fundamental issues with, like I say,

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Mariology, transubstantiation, which we're not going to get into, but the biggest one is the papacy.

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I can't get over the idea of this Marxist who calls himself the head of your church, but I personally would not be able to enter into a faith that believes that anybody except Jesus Christ our

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Lord was without sin, and that's my final comment on Mariology. Happy to debate it.

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Was definitely on the brink of changing some of his perspectives, and I can tell you factually,

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Charlie was praying the rosary. Charlie was going to Mass. One of my last conversations with Charlie was me joking with him, saying, just make the last step, okay?

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You are, I said specifically, you're too smart to be a Protestant. Just take the last step,

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Charlie. He says, ha ha. Charlie Kirk was very interested in Orthodoxy, as I'm sure you know, and he was knowledgeable on it, too.

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I'm not, but I know that, but I'm interested. But he was very interested in it. Were you aware of that?

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He interviewed a friend of mine, Father John Strickland, who's a very respected

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Orthodox priest and a Russian scholar who's published extensively on Russian history, and Charlie was very interested in that.

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What makes sense of these perceived discrepancies? I would like to offer what I believe is a very simple explanation that will resonate with Charlie's audience, and he'll make sense of the different perspectives shared by his friends.

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I do not believe that Charlie Kirk was simply telling people what they wanted to hear in a flattering kind of way.

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In fact, I think all of these interpretations likely have aspects of truth, but some of them are being taken to unjustifiable conclusions.

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Even if Kirk was praying the rosary, which some Protestants do in a different way than Catholics, or attending

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Mass, that does not necessarily mean he was converting to Catholicism. His wife,

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Erica, stated in an Instagram comment that she and Charlie were not becoming Catholic, even though they had visited a

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Catholic church. Just because Charlie was asking good questions about Eastern Orthodoxy does not mean he was interested in converting.

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It would not be surprising if he was trying to understand why many young conservatives have been drawn to Orthodoxy.

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The best explanation, I believe, for these perceived discrepancies is that Charlie Kirk was a friendly, diplomatic, and curious person.

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He enjoyed talking about ideas and learning new things. He cared deeply about holding the diverse

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MAGA coalition together. He was able to work alongside people with whom he had serious disagreements in order to achieve shared political goals.

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On the day of his assassination, he was even complimenting Mormons, despite saying he strongly disagreed with them on religious matters.

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Kirk's demeanor was grounded in conviction, yet marked by warmth and a willingness to build friendships across differences.

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And this is something that is incredibly rare in our internet age. He had the ability to recognize what was admirable in others, and in their beliefs even, while standing firm in his own beliefs.

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This aspect of who he was should be remembered and respected, not misunderstood or taken to mean more than it did.