Charlie Kirk’s assassination at a college event in Utah on September 10 shook America but united his conservative supporters in grief. Barely a week after his death, however, those same supporters were grappling with conflicting narratives about his changing stance on Israel—and trading accusations that mirror a wider debate on whether dissenting views are being silenced.
Candace Owens, a prominent right-wing podcaster and former communications director at Turning Point USA, the conservative youth organization that Kirk founded, made the most explosive claims.
On Monday, she alleged that billionaire hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman—a vocal supporter of Israel—had staged an “intervention” in the Hamptons weeks prior, pressuring Kirk to “get in line” with unwavering support for Israel during which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called him. She said that Kirk was offered “a ton of money” to stick to a pro-Israel stance because he had been “falling out of love with Israel” and was “on the brink of changing some of his perspectives” about the Gaza war.
Owens framed these allegations, which Newsweek is unable to verify, as critical questions that others were afraid to ask. Ackman has strenuously denied specific claims of an “intervention,” as have others, including Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon, who were at the Hamptons event, which they nonetheless confirmed had taken place.
However, other prominent conservative commentators, such as Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, agreed that while Kirk was a strong supporter of Israel, his views on foreign policy were evolving, as Carlson said in his podcast episode last Wednesday.
They have each claimed, to varying degrees, that Kirk was under some kind of pressure over his changing stance, without specifying who or what was placing this pressure on him. Dillon said that Kirk said at the Hamptons retreat that he felt “we aren’t really free to voice” criticism of Israel.
Others, such as Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz, have pushed back on claims that Kirk’s views were changing at all. Cruz said in an X post last week: “I’m getting really tired of Tucker & his cronies falsely claiming ‘Charlie agreed with me that Israel is terrible & the problem in America is all the damn Jews….’ I knew Charlie well & indeed the very last conversation we had was how deeply concerned he was about the rising, toxic wave of antisemitism on the right.”
Newsweek has broken down what Kirk has said about his views on Israel in his own words here.
As Cruz indicated, it comes amid conspiracy theories circulating online, from both sides of the political spectrum, alleging that Israel had something to do with Kirk’s murder, which Netanyahu said last Thursday was a “fabricated a monstrous big lie.”
In light of those allegations, Professor Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, warned about “conspiracies that present Jews as a threat at a time of increased antisemitism.”
“In an era where my research data shows modern records for anti-Jewish police reported hate crimes and American Jews increasingly being the target of false conspiracies and aggression about real suffering in Gaza, lighting that unfounded cigarette has a distinct anti-Jewish effect,” he told Newsweek.
Neither Owens, Carlson or Kelly have made this claim, but Levin argues that unfounded comment about Kirk’s views on Israel is “at the very least antisemitic adjacent, because of the timing, lack of veracity, dog whistling and its connection to other unfounded allegations.”
Newsweek contacted teams for Owens, Ackman, Carlson, Kelly and Kirk’s organization Turning Point USA (TPUSA ), via email, for comment on Friday. This article will be updated if any of them respond.
Candace Owens’ Claims
Owens, who worked with Kirk at TPUSA for two years, alleged in her podcast last Monday that a few weeks before Kirk was killed, Ackman staged an “intervention” for him, during which Netanyahu called and invited Kirk to Israel in what she said felt like an “under-duress situation” based on what she described as similar situations had been in.
She said that when she “started asking questions about Israel,” she was “met with the very same pressure.” “And just like Charlie was being invited to Israel, I was invited somewhere else, and, when this arrived to me, it felt like a threat.”
“I can’t speak to how it felt to Charlie,” she added, “but I know that Charlie was offered a ton of money in this moment—Bibi would fund it…” she said. “And I know for a fact that Charlie denied that funding, that Charlie declined to go to Israel.”
Owens said she was making these claims in response to Netanyahu’s words about Kirk, when he told Fox News: “(Kirk) wrote me a letter on May 2, 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 I called him and I invited him to Israel and sadly that visit will not take place.”
She said Netanyahu “did not give the letter the proper context” adding that “lies by severe omission are lies.”
“You’re not going to call us antisemitic for pointing out the fact that Charlie was having a change of heart—about the tactics that Israel was using in America and that he felt, when he had left that (Hamptons) meeting, that he had effectively been blackmailed,” Owens said.
Bill Ackman and Others’ Response
Ackman, who is a Jewish and was working with Kirk on several projects before he died, responded on X by accusing Owens of slandering him and said: “For the record, at no time have I ever threatened Charlie Kirk, Turning Point or anyone associated with him.
“I have never blackmailed anyone, let alone Charlie Kirk. I have never offered Charlie or Turning Point any money in an attempt to influence Charlie’s opinion on anything.
“In fact, my interactions with Charlie Kirk have been extremely cordial, albeit limited, regretfully so, as I was very impressed by him and his work and I will sadly never see him again.”
He went on to say that the meeting in the Hamptons was to discuss Kirk’s idea to recruit a “group of junior Charlie Kirk’s who could host open mic sessions on college campuses.”
Andrew Kolvet, the executive producer of The Charlie Kirk Show, said in a post on X that he asked “staff who were traveling with Charlie to find out what’s true and what’s not,” and they told him: “Bill never yelled at Charlie, never pressed him on Bibi, never gave him a list of Charlie’s offenses against Israel.”
“There was concern raised about having Tucker (Carlson) at SAS (we don’t believe this came from Bill) and Charlie’s reply was: ‘Honestly, people telling me not to have Tucker makes me want to have Tucker, and I am going to lock him in for AmFest too’.”
The Student Action Summit (SAS), which took place in July, and AmericaFest (AmFest), which is scheduled to take place in December, are two events organized by TPUSA.
“Charlie personally told me he had a very cordial relationship with Bill and the event was productive,” Kolvet added.
Seth Dillon, who also attended the Hamptons retreat, corroborated this account in a post on X last Wednesday, saying: “If there were private meetings that took place, I wasn’t in them. If there were angry confrontations, threats, or coercion, I didn’t witness or hear about any of it. Should evidence of such things come to light, it will be news to me.”
“One concern Charlie raised, which I believe he also raised publicly, was about free speech,” Dillon added. “He felt that criticism of Israel was so discouraged, so penalized, that we aren’t really free to voice it.”
On Wednesday, Ackman posted a screengrab of a WhatsApp conversation with Kirk, in which he said “really enjoyed our time together last week” and said it would be “awesome” to have dinner in New York in the fall.
Ackman wrote in the caption: “I am sure there are some Israel supporters of TPUSA who became upset with Charlie because he told me so. He complained to me that some pro-Israel advocates view any criticism of Israel as antisemitic and we both agreed that this is wrong.”
Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly’s Claims
Carlson has not spoken about the Hamptons meeting directly, but said that “a lot of people are lying” about Kirk’s views on foreign policy.
“They had really evolved,” Carlson said on his podcast last Wednesday, “and who knows why he reached the conclusions he did, I think his Christian faith informed them mostly, and it was also the experience of talking to young people and his views are very much like theirs—he believed that the war on terror had been a net loss for the United States and it caused incalculable damage…it was bad and we got nothing out of it, we were only hurt, and he didn’t want to see that again—and he felt very strongly about that.”
Carlson went on to claim that before he gave a speech at TPUSA’s USA Summit in July, “people hassled Kirk and drove him to really fret.”
He also criticized Netanyahu, saying the prime minister “made it all about him and his country.”
Kelly, who identifies as “totally a Zionist,” made an appearance on Carlson’s podcast and claimed that she and Carlson had both been “threatened to cut ties with” or “not platformed” since “becoming more outspoken about Israel.” “I know from speaking to Charlie he felt it too,” Kelly said.
Kelly previously said she had never heard about the Hamptons meeting before Owens reported it.
In August, when Kirk appeared as a guest on Kelly’s podcast, Kirk nodded when she called both of them “supporters of Israel,” before she went on to say that “some in the pro-Israel camp are so knee-jerk about calling you antisemitic or getting deeply offended if you say anything that doesn’t align with their narrative that it undermines their own cause.”
He responded to her: “I’m so glad you brought this up, Megyn, I think I have a bulletproof resume showing my defense of Israel—both on campus, on social media—to great mocker and scorn sometimes, because I believe it.
“I believe in the scriptural land rights given to Israel, I believe in fulfillment of prophecy, and, again, I’m not a theologian but I’m a Christian, my life was changed in Israel, the spiritual energy is so amazing there. I want them to win, I’ve said that repeatedly.
“However, you’re hitting on something very potent and important. Now let me first say—I don’t want to judge an entire group, because there’s been many people in the pro-Israel group that have been very sweet, very kind, very nuanced…however, and I will say this, the behavior by a lot—both privately and publicly—are pushing people like you and me away.
“Not like we’re going to be pro-Hamas, but we’re like ‘honestly, the way you are treating me is so repulsive,’ I have text messages, Megyn, calling me an antisemite.”
He went on to repeat his love for Israel multiple times but added that he feels he has “less ability to criticize the Israeli government without backlash than actual Israelis do.”
Kirk’s funeral takes place today. In recent days his influence has been keenly felt, with ABC pulling Jimmy Kimmel Live! indefinitely following the host’s remarks about Kirk’s killing. The move, prompted by backlash from affiliate owners and FCC pressure, has sparked outrage across the entertainment industry and intensified free speech concerns.
The claims and counterclaims about Kirk’s views on Israel also reflect these concerns, as Kirk himself suggested: is there sufficient room in the conservative movement for dissent and nuance on Israel and other topics? The coming weeks—as Kirk’s legacy is again debated on podcasts and interviews—may offer an answer.