Senior Israeli political correspondent Amit Segal reacted to the murder of Charlie Kirk in a personal post, writing that the incident "shook me deeply."
Segal described the shooting, which took place during a debate at Utah Valley University, as "clearly political circumstances of the killing, as if to prove that bullets are meant to serve as the final argument, in the absence of any other way to defeat Charlie."
He emphasized the stark contrast between the event and Kirk’s long history of participating in open discussions across American campuses: "Not just because of the contrast between the extraordinary tolerance with which he roamed from campus to campus for years, debating political opponents in an America that long ago stopped holding debates and instead retreated into two separate worlds where people talk about each other, not with each other."
Segal also highlighted Kirk’s support for Israel, noting: "And not just because he was a staunch supporter of Israel in a generation that is increasingly moving away from it."
Reflecting on the broader impact, Segal wrote: "And not even because the horrific murder happened in front of phone cameras, from every angle, a reminder of how violent America can be and how the 2020s surpass the 1960s in the everydayness of political assassination attempts."
However, he stressed that the most painful element was the loss to Kirk’s family: "But because of the videos that flooded the internet of his family, with his wife Erika and their two young children."
"In the end, as our sages taught, it is primarily the family left behind that suffers the pain and sadness resulting from their loved one's death. Charlie's murder, even if carried out by a mentally ill person, was meant for him because of the words he spoke and the positions he expressed," Segal wrote.
He concluded: "But the full price will be paid by his family. May the immense love Charlie is receiving now somehow comfort them."