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My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it.
After conservative American influencer Charlie Kirk was assassinated at a college event on Wednesday, Republicans have been quick to blame America's left despite not knowing who the killer was. For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world's worst mass murderers and criminals. This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we're seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.
Democratic politicians and left-wing figures have strongly condemned Kirk's killing, saying political violence has no place in America. But right-wing media have treated his murder as existential and even a call to action. They are at war with us. Whether we want to accept it or not, they are at war with us. What are we going to do about it? And everybody's accountable. And we're watching what they're saying on television. And who's saying what? The politicians, the media, and all these rats out there. This is an attack on our republic. The only way to end it is to make an example. This guy needs to pay the price. And the whole country needs to see. Charlie Kirk's a casualty of war. We're we're in this country.
Israeli politicians of all stripes have also mourned Charlie Kirk who as a conservative figure and evangelical Christian was a strong pro-Israel advocate. Prime Minister Netanyahu thanked him for defending Judeo-Christian civilization. More disturbingly, an Israeli soldier filmed himself bombing Gaza with the caption dedicated to Charlie the master debater. RIP.
But Kirk's killing also became a talking point within Israeli politics. Right-wing figures like National Security Minister Itar Bengavir and Channel 14 hosts Yinon Magal and Tamir Morag compared the assassin to leftists in their own country, blaming collusion between the global left and radical Islam. Bengavir said, "Let's hope their imitators in Israel do not succeed." Morag added that if law enforcement doesn't wake up, protests against the judicial overhaul will end in murder in Israel as well.
But not all Israelis seem to agree. Bengavir's warning that words kill were mocked by many Israelis who pointed out his own record. He has dozens of indictments and eight convictions for incitement and support of terrorist organizations. He threatened then Israeli leader Yitsak Rabbin on live TV leading up to his assassination. He hung a portrait of convicted murderer Baroo Goldstein in his living room. And he has encouraged settler violence in the occupied West Bank.
Others criticized the fact that Israelis mourned Kirk without stopping to think what it means that these are the last advocates of integrity left to us. They pointed to some of Kirk's more extreme remarks about people of color, women, LGBT people, and the Jewish community to suggest that his significance to Israel was a mark of the country's declining reputation on the world stage.
In both Israel and America, people are worried that these kinds of threats and accusations will encourage revenge attacks and divide society even more, providing the pretext for a potential government crackdown. In the US, Trump has discussed sending the National Guard to more Democrat-run cities like Chicago, Baltimore, and New Orleans after a trial period in DC. He has replaced scores of national security and intelligence officials seen as inefficiently loyal, and he has sent immigration raids sweeping throughout the country. In Israel, Netanyahu is set to appoint David Zinny to Israel's internal intelligence service, a figure previously not promoted for being seen as too messianic. All the while, Bengavir has consolidated his control over Israel's police to use greater force against protesters, investigate Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, and interfere with officer promotions. Both societies worry that this control could allow their governments to turn a blind eye to right-wing violence, while at the same time using law enforcement to go after their political opponents. And after the horrific murder of Charlie Kirk, those fears have only grown.