The full letter sent by slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was revealed Monday by the New York Post, offering a detailed and impassioned appeal for Israel to overhaul its public communications strategy.
The letter came to public attention following a wave of conspiracy theories and antisemitic accusations targeting Israel and Netanyahu. After Kirk was assassinated during a campus event in Utah on September 10, some online figures, including right-wing pundit Candace Owens, falsely claimed Israel had orchestrated the murder or was blackmailing Kirk into defending Israeli policies. These accusations, widely condemned, prompted Netanyahu to publicly cite Kirk’s letter as proof of his genuine and voluntary support for Israel.
In the letter, Kirk described his longstanding commitment to advocating for Israel as a Christian and emphasized the growing need for unity between Jews and Christians to confront radical Islam and Sharia law. He warned that anti-Israel and antisemitic sentiment is reaching unprecedented levels on social media, trickling down into college campuses and even conservative circles.
Kirk explained that his team had spent months analyzing these trends, expressing concern that negative public opinion could erode American support for Israel. He cited his own experiences on campus tours, where he was frequently confronted with hostile questions accusing Israel of apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and control over US foreign policy. "Sometimes, it feels like I'm defending Israel in public more than your own government," he told Netanyahu.
He lamented that misinformation—such as claims that the IDF restricted Christian access to churches in Jerusalem during Easter—often spreads unchecked, and noted the absence of official responses. "Pro-Israel surrogates like me should not be in charge of fact checking every piece of anti-Israel misinformation," he wrote.
Kirk urged Israel to stop relying on American surrogates to defend its narrative and instead take the lead in the information war. He called for a major overhaul of Israel's communication strategy and offered several recommendations:
1. Form a rapid response media team to actively counter misinformation in real-time, similar to President Donald Trump’s communication model.
2. Assemble a fact-checking team of pro-Israel experts based in Israel to address false narratives as they arise.
3. Launch an “Israel Truth Network” (ITN), a central hub with social media channels and a website offering resources, debunking myths, and promoting Judeo-Christian values.
4. Consider sending released hostages on speaking tours in the US to humanize Israel's narrative and expose Hamas’ use of civilians as human shields.
5. Showcase everyday Israeli voices—Jewish, Arab, Druze, religious and secular—in a campaign titled “Dude, you got us wrong!” to counter propaganda with personal testimonies.
6. Improve communication on the Iranian threat with clear messaging from Israeli voices, recognizing the skepticism among young conservatives due to past foreign policy failures.
7. Rebuild Israel’s social media presence from scratch with a modern campaign-like approach, defining Israel’s identity with consistent first-person messaging.
He emphasized the need for younger staff within these efforts, individuals fluent in the language of social media. "Israel has retreated from social media without a fight," he warned, urging leaders to fight back with the same resolve as the IDF.
Kirk concluded with a call for Prime Minister Netanyahu to lead this transformation personally and publicly, including more English-language press briefings and direct engagement with Western audiences. “Israel needs more first-person voices to defend her,” he wrote.
Prime Minister Netanyahu first mentioned the letter in a Fox News interview shortly after Kirk's murder. He later referenced it, calling it evidence against false claims implicating Israel in the killing.