IN MEMORIAM

Charlie Kirk

Activist

Charlie Kirk was assassinated on September 10, 2025, while speaking at Utah Valley University. He was 31 years old. The co-founder and CEO of Turning Point USA, Kirk had transformed his organization from a small campus group into one of the most influential conservative youth movements in America, playing a crucial role in galvanizing young voters for Donald Trump. Throughout 2024 and into 2025, Kirk positioned himself as a vocal defender of Israel and the Jewish people, even as he faced accusations of antisemitism from some quarters. During the 2024 pro-Palestinian campus protests, he urged Republican crackdowns and repeatedly stated that antisemitism was "a lie from the pit of Hell." In July 2025, he warned his followers that "Jew hate has no place in civil society. It rots the brain, reject it." Kirk had visited Jerusalem in 2019, telling an audience that he had defended Israel his whole life, and in August 2025 declared he had "a bulletproof resumé showing my defense of Israel." In his final months, Kirk had begun observing the Jewish Sabbath, turning off his phone from Friday evening to Saturday night. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called him two weeks before his death to invite him to Israel, describing him after his assassination as "a lion-hearted friend of Israel" who "fought the lies and stood tall for Judeo-Christian civilization." Israel posthumously honored Kirk with an award for combating antisemitism at a conference in Jerusalem. He is survived by his wife, Erika, and their two young children.