Contributor: A fringe on the right is twisting Charlie Kirk’s memory

Is it actually an excessive amount of to ask {that a} murdered younger man be given the dignity of a correct burial earlier than bad-faith opportunists try to posthumously rewrite his legacy to higher serve their very own nefarious ends? Is it actually an excessive amount of to ask {that a} murdered younger man’s household and pals — to say nothing of the numerous people whose lives the younger man touched and impressed — be allowed to mourn in peace, with out having to fend off charlatans looking for to hijack his reminiscence to advance their pet crusades?

Apparently, the reply is: Sure, it’s.

The physique of my good friend Charlie Kirk, who was tragically assassinated last week throughout a campus occasion in Utah by an alleged leftist transgender-adjacent “furry” fetishist, had barely returned dwelling to Arizona earlier than some grifters ostensibly on the fitting began making an attempt to capitalize on his reminiscence. As a substitute of specializing in the metastasizing evil of a distinctly leftist political violence or the truth that transgenderism had but once more discovered itself implicated in a horrific capturing, as any sane conservative would have executed, these brokers of chaos determined it could be most applicable to “simply ask questions” about — you guessed it — the Jews.

Disgraced podcaster Candace Owens, by no means one to overlook any alternative to slander Jewish folks, took valuable time away from her Brigitte Macron legal defense to counsel that Jewish folks or the Jewish state of Israel have been one way or the other concerned in Kirk’s assassination. To listen to Owens inform it: Kirk, a lifelong vocal supporter of the Jewish folks and the Jewish state, was souring on Israel and was getting near publicly adopting a hostile stance. Oh, and what’s extra — per Owens, Invoice Ackman, the billionaire hedge funder and proud Zionist, staged an “intervention” with Kirk throughout a retreat final month within the Hamptons the place Ackman pressured Kirk to “get in line” on the Israel difficulty. Notably, quite a few high-profile cable news has-beens have legitimized Owens’ outrageous laundering of a left-wing political assassination into an antisemitic caper.

The place to start?

I spoke with Charlie Kirk less than 24 hours before his premature dying. The evening earlier than, a right-wing rabbi friend and I held a Zoom name with Kirk and some others. Throughout this name, Kirk, an unapologetic Christian Zionist who was tremendously distressed by rising antisemitism in some pockets of the fitting, requested us a sequence of Israel-related questions that he anticipated receiving on his upcoming campus tour. We answered these questions and offered messaging recommendation for greatest talk and win over college students. At one level, Kirk joked to me that he would merely direct college students towards my e book when Israel got here up on tour. It beggars perception that somebody on the verge of renouncing Israel would arrange this name.

As for the Hamptons retreat final month: I used to be there. Kirk had personally texted me to ask me, and I had inscribed e book copies for 2 particular retreat attendees — Kirk and Ackman. Put merely, there was no “intervention” — not from Ackman, not from Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon, not from anybody else. The retreat featured quite a few open-ended conversations, often moderated by Kirk, and solely one in all which was really about Israel itself. The conversations have been spirited and strong, however hardly rancorous. Kirk was crucial of the means some pro-Israel advocates superior their arguments, however he was not crucial of the underlying substance. Quite the opposite, he solely doubled down on his opposition to Islam and advised that Israel is a pure ally within the battle in opposition to jihadism. Ackman and Kirk interacted very amicably.

That is who Charlie Kirk was: He centered on constructing bridges and sustaining big-tent coalitions throughout the broader proper, which he had no real interest in dividing or tearing down. And he had an extended observe file of befriending Jews — like me — and defending the Jewish state of Israel. His Could letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the existence of which the premier confirmed on Fox News last week and which I used to be given entry to earlier this yr, makes his affection very clear. Kirk’s personal pastor and spiritual mentor, Rob McCoy, has made it clear as nicely.

At a time when the main target needs to be on ending the potentially existential threat of left-wing home political violence, Owens and different instigators have embarked upon the final word gaslighting campaign: Deceive our faces and fake that Kirk was one thing aside from the champion of Jewish-Christian relations that he demonstrably was, whereas concurrently insinuating “the Jews” might have had one thing to do along with his horrific assassination. All of this, furthermore, whereas so many people merely want to mourn and honor our fallen good friend.

From a private perspective, such conduct is reprehensible. And from a political perspective, it’s outright evil.

Neither is such a buffoonish “simply asking questions” ruse evil merely due to the way it seeks to fracture the Jewish-Christian alliance that’s the solely hope of saving the West — one thing Kirk fought for on daily basis. It is usually evil as a result of such appalling idiocy and grotesque conspiracy-mongering threatens to repel the overwhelming majority of People who stay coherent and sane, and who might nicely conclude that they need nothing to do with a political motion that entertains such cranks. It isn’t merely the Jewish-Christian alliance that these reprobates are threatening, then. They’re additionally threatening the integrity and viability of the MAGA coalition, which nobody did extra to carry collectively than Kirk.

Actually, might there be any better desecration of Charlie Kirk’s reminiscence than that?

Josh Hammer’s newest e book is “Israel and Civilization: The Destiny of the Jewish Nation and the Future of the West.” This text was produced in collaboration with Creators Syndicate. @josh_hammer