Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed online conspiracies blaming Israel for the killing of American right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, suggesting they may be being peddled by people paid by Qatar.
This claim comes at a time when Netanyahu's office has been embroiled in a scandal over Qatari payments to some of his top advisers.
“Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister, said that the bigger the lie, the faster it will spread,” Netanyahu says in a video statement released on X. “Well, someone has made up a big, monstrous lie, that Israel had something to do with the horrific murder of Charlie Kirk.”
He disputes online conspiracies blaming Israel for the murder of American right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, suggesting that the conspiracies may be being peddled by people paid by Qatar.
“This is crazy. It’s false. It’s outrageous,” he says, praising Kirk for his enthusiastic pro-Israel activism and noting that they had spoken several times and that the prime minister had recently invited Kirk to visit Israel.
Conspiracists have claimed, without evidence, that the Jewish state was behind the murder because of the criticism he expressed of Israel's policies.
Netanyahu says that, on the contrary, he welcomed the different views on the case because “that is the essence of Charlie, the essence of a free country,” and since he knew Kirk’s suggestions “always came from the heart, from his love for Israel and from his love for the Jewish people.”
"Now, some are spreading these disgusting rumors – perhaps out of obsession, perhaps with Qatari funding," the prime minister adds, concluding that Kirk deserves "honor, not lies."
Charlie Kirk was a great man. He deserves honor - not lies. pic.twitter.com/NwEN4B2q7w
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) September 18, 2025