Charlie Kirk’s Limited Hangout

Foreign Affairs

Charlie Kirk’s Limited Hangout

The MAGA influencer doesn’t always wear his love for Israel on his sleeve.

Charlie Kirk hates propaganda.

“I hate being lied to, and I hate being propagandized,” the MAGA influencer said last week on an episode of The Charlie Kirk Show. “And this weekend, there was an all-out propaganda campaign trying to make it seem as if Israel is intentionally starving the people of Gaza.”

Kirk then brought on the Israeli rabbi Pesach Wolicki to set the record straight. Wolicki claimed that Hamas had concocted the fantasy of a starvation crisis in Gaza and that the “pro-Hamas crowd” was amplifying it. “This is really pure, pure propaganda, as you say,” the rabbi added.

The only problem? Wolicki is a senior executive at Israel365, which gets funds from the Israeli government to propagandize Americans. Kirk wasn’t providing a corrective to propaganda—he was providing an outlet for it, and an audience. 

Kirk’s audience must hold special appeal for Israel365, which seeks to strengthen the alliance between Christians and Jews who support Israel. A conservative evangelical, Kirk has amassed a huge following, with over 5 million X followers and nearly 4 million YouTube subscribers. He is the co-founder and executive director of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), which promotes conservative values on high school and college campuses, and he is often cited in mainstream media as a voice for young MAGA conservatives.

That demographic is precisely the one that Israel365 is targeting in a government-backed propaganda campaign. Reports surfaced last month that the Israeli Foreign Ministry was giving the nonprofit tens of thousands of dollars to host tours of Israel for young MAGA influencers. Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper, wrote that the initiative “aims to boost Israel’s image among young American conservatives by encouraging these influencers to disseminate messaging that aligns with the Israeli government’s policy.” The Israeli government selected Israel365 because of its “unique position to convey a pro-Israel stance that aligns entirely with the MAGA and America First agenda,” the Foreign Ministry said, according to Haaretz.

While Turning Point USA receives funds from pro-Israel donors, there’s no evidence that the Israeli government or Israel365 pays Kirk. But he certainly disseminates content in support of Israeli policy, and not just on Gaza. 

Earlier this year, Kirk explained to a crowd of university students why he doesn’t support statehood for Palestine. “I don’t think the place exists, because it doesn’t,” Kirk said. “It’s called Judea and Samaria.” That’s the Biblical term Israelis use for the West Bank, a Palestinian territory under Israeli occupation. As it happens, Israel365 promotes the idea that “God promised Judea and Samaria to Israel’s forefathers” and that the region is “essential to Israel’s security.”

Kirk went so far as to cast doubt on the existence of Palestinians themselves, suggesting their ethnicity is fictitious and their true homeland lies in Jordan, or at any rate not in the West Bank or Gaza. Israel365 sees things much the same way. In a conversation this February between Wolicki and the rabbi Tuly Weisz, the founder of Israel365, the latter praised the Trump administration for acknowledging “there’s no such thing as a Palestinian State, there’s no such thing as a Palestinian.”

Israel365 appreciates the work that Kirk does in purveying such views. Two weeks ago Wolicki wrote an op-ed in the Jerusalem Post entitled “Charlie Kirk’s role in defending Israel and the growing generational divide.” The subheadline declared Kirk “one of the few voices with the reach, credibility, and courage to make the case for Israel in a skeptical, cynical, and disillusioned generation.”

In the article, Wolicki addressed criticisms of Kirk from pro-Israel voices following TPUSA’s Student Action Summit in July, during which Tucker Carlson delivered what the rabbi called an “anti-Israel rant.” Wolicki called attacks on Kirk “not only misguided” but “self-defeating” and “divorced from the political reality we’re actually facing.” He pointed to “hundreds of clips” of Kirk “passionately defending Israel” and called him “one of the strongest voices on the American Right pushing back against the rising tide of antisemitism among young conservatives.” Wolicki explained: 

Were Charlie to invoke a pro-Israel purity test for his speakers, he would lose his audience fast. Where to draw the line is a question that is difficult to answer, and I don’t envy Charlie. But the pro-Israel community needs to understand the sensitivities in the younger America First movement if we have any chance of winning them back.

For Wolicki, evidently, occasional flirtation with Israel-critical voices boosts Kirk’s credibility with young Americans, thus improving the odds of “winning them back” for the “pro-Israel community.” The idea is reminiscent of a tactic of information warfare called a “limited hangout,” in which an actor with something to hide partially concedes the truth to forestall further questions from an intrigued public. Seen in this light, Kirk’s platforming of Carlson, comedian Dave Smith, and other critics of Israel looks to be part of a multilayered effort to shore up Israel’s reputation.

Ditto Kirk’s recent hosting of a discussion on Israel with TPUSA chapter leaders from around the country. Kirk called the event a “focus group” intended to probe the ideas of young conservatives about Israel. While Kirk extolled the virtues of open debate and bemoaned unfair allegations of antisemitism, at times he and his co-host seemed intent on moderating Israel-critical attitudes and discerning what kind of PR techniques would increase support for the Jewish state among Christian conservatives.

During the discussion, Kirk conveyed openness to the idea that the U.S. government spends too much money supporting Israel and does so in part because of the influence of lobbying groups like AIPAC—a view that many of the young discussants seemed to hold. Kirk asked: 

What would you want to see from their [the Israeli] government? If their government came out and said, “We have a five-year plan to decouple from U.S. aid,” would that help people’s view of Israel? If they said, “Hey we want to be self-reliant,” do you think that would help… Do you think that people would think higher of Israel or at least stop talking about it so much?

Here, Kirk showed a willingness to acknowledge the significant support that the U.S. gives to Israel, and even to treat objections to such support as legitimate. But that’s not exactly a brave stand for America or the MAGA movement. Even Wolicki, in a conversation with Kirk back in June, expressed support for gradually ending U.S. aid to Israel, arguing that the Jewish state doesn’t need the support and that it “ties Israel’s hands.”

Wolicki also acknowledged that U.S. aid comes with a “political cost,” perhaps referring to Israel’s worsening reputation among Americans, including conservatives. That seems to be a driving concern of Kirk as well. After all, his question to TPUSA chapter leaders about U.S. aid was framed around steps Israel could take to rehabilitate its popularity. 

Kirk may be seen as a leader of young MAGA conservatives, and sometimes even as a critic of Israel. But that is a superficial interpretation. What Kirk in fact seems to be doing is blocking young MAGA conservatives from turning fully against Jerusalem. As Israel pursues ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the West Bank, and as the Israel lobby pushes crackdowns on criticisms of Israel in America, Kirk’s services should remain useful for a long while.

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