A Newsmax interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took an unusual turn when host Greta Van Susteren asked him to respond to fringe internet theories linking Israel to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Van Susteren made clear she found the rumors “absurd” but wanted Netanyahu to address them directly.
Netanyahu chuckled at the suggestion before forcefully dismissing it. “That’s insane,” he said. “Israel also changes the orbit of the moon. Israel pushes the sun. I mean, the whole thing is not only insane, I think it’s so absurd, so stupid, and so ridiculous. You can’t believe that people are saying that.” He added that such claims reflect anti-Semitism: “When you hate Jews, when you hate the Jewish state, you’re willing to say anything and promote all these absurd, absurd rumors.”
He eventually shifted his remarks to Kirk, who was killed earlier in the week. Netanyahu recalled Kirk once telling him, “You have to fight the slander. These untruths, these vilifications have consequences.” The prime minister praised Kirk as someone who fought on the “battlefield of ideas” while Israel battles terrorists on the ground. “I think he was winning,” Netanyahu said.
Kirk had been an outspoken supporter of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, even as it drew international criticism. At the same time, he expressed negative views about Jews, complicating the picture of his public stance.