Charlie Kirk believed Israel belongs to the Jewish people — historically, morally, Biblically, and practically. A Jewish state in the Middle East, he argued, is not a political arrangement. It’s the fulfillment of a covenantal promise that stretches back thousands of years — and one that must be defended in every generation.
Israel Is the Jewish Homeland
At a Turning Point USA event, Charlie told a student:
“I am very pro-Israel as far as the promise of the Jewish people — seven million individuals out of fourteen having a home. I believe that is an idea that needs to be defended: a Jewish state in the Middle East.”
Charlie made it clear that standing with Israel doesn’t mean giving the Israeli government a free pass from criticism. Governments make bad decisions all the time. But to Charlie, the existence of a Jewish homeland was non-negotiable.
“I’m not an unapologetic defender of the government of Israel, but I am a defender of the nation-state of Israel to exist as a homeland for the Jewish people,” he said.
You Can’t Occupy Your Own Land
Charlie knew his history. He knew the Jewish people’s connection to Israel goes back thousands of years—to Abraham, to Joshua, to King David and Solomon.
On The American Comeback Tour, Charlie told a student:
“The land of Canaan, or Judea and Samaria, has been the Jews’ for well over 5,000 years. Well, 4,000 years. And so, again, we can go all the way back to the Mesopotamians, but the most rightful claim to the land is that of the Jews.”
Since Abraham first settled in what was then called Canaan, the Jewish people never left. They conquered it under Joshua around 1405 BCE—and since then, the government has changed hands, empires have come and gone, but the Jewish presence has never been broken. When a student once claimed that the Temple Mount was originally an Islamic holy site, Charlie corrected her that it was the site of the Jewish Temple built by King Solomon—about 1,600 years before Mohammed was born and founded Islam.
He told an audience during a visit to Israel:
“Something that I’m going to use really in my advocacy in the states and the media that I do is how could anyone be occupying their own land? Can anyone explain that to me? Because the Jews have been living in this land for thousands and thousands of years.”
Charlie’s point was: you can’t “steal” land that’s been yours for millennia. The Jews didn’t take Israel—they returned to it.
What “Palestine” Really Means
Most people don’t realize that the modern concept of “Palestine” is barely 60 years old. The name itself dates back to the Romans, who renamed the land from “Judea” to “Syria Palaestina” after crushing the Bar Kokhba Revolt, just to wipe out the Jewish connection to their own homeland. It was ancient cancel culture — erase the name, erase the people. But it didn’t work. The Jews never lost their connection to the land. Even after the Roman exile, Jewish communities remained, and those scattered abroad prayed daily for their return. Israel is woven through Jewish identity itself—in daily prayers, in scripture, and in religious practices. As Charlie would point out, the Torah mentions Israel more than 600 times. By contrast, Israel holds no religious significance in the Qur’an for Muslims.
Under the British Mandate, both Jews and Arabs who lived in “Palestine” were called Palestinians. Then, in the 1960s, under Yasser Arafat, Arab Muslims in Gaza, Judea, and Samaria invented a new national identity called “Palestinian” and claimed East Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and Gaza as their ancestral homeland — even though those areas had never been under their rule. Until 1967, Judea and Samaria were under Jordanian rule; Gaza was ruled by Egypt. Which means that Arabs living in those territories before 1967 were Jordanians and Gazans—not “Palestinians.”
Put simply, the term “Palestinian” was coined to invent a national identity, and with the help of the international media, a new “nation” was born—one with no history, no distinct ethnicity, and no true homeland. It was manufactured overnight.
So when challengers would tell Charlie that the land of Israel belongs to Palestine, he would respond: “What is the national identity of Palestine? What ethnicity are they? Show me where it is.”
As he told a student,
“I don’t think the place exists. Because it doesn’t — it’s called Judea and Samaria.” When the student pushed back, he pressed: “Show me where it is. It’s a non-existent place.”
At a college campus, when a student asked Charlie if the Palestinians have a “right to self-determination,” Charlie asked: “Who are the Palestinians? Because most of them are Jordanian refugees.”
Instead, Charlie viewed “Palestine” as a euphemism for the destruction of Israel. It isn’t a nation with any historical, moral, or legal claim to the land. It doesn’t aim to build a state—it aims to destroy one.
At the Oxford Union, he asked the audience:
“What is a Palestinian? What are the borders? Who’s in charge? Some people believe that Palestine, or whatever the state will be called, let’s just call it PA, is from the river to the sea. Okay. So then you don’t believe in a Jewish state.”
That’s the heart of it. If “Palestine” means no Israel, then they’re not fighting for coexistence—they’re fighting for extermination.
“If you want a Palestinian state, tell me where, tell me who, tell me how, and I will be open-minded to hear that contention,” he said. “But if it’s nothing more than the eradication of Jewry between Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa, I’m sorry. That’s where now we’re blurring on going backwards, not forwards.”
And let’s remember the numbers. There are around 14 million Jews in the entire world, and more than half of them live in Israel. Over seven million people. Why should they be forced to share their homeland with Muslims, who have over 50 nation-states in the Middle East?
As Charlie said:
“I think the Jews should have a right to their own homeland and I think Muslims are able to have 40 Muslim-majority countries. Why can’t the Jews have one?”
The Two-State Illusion
For Charlie, it wasn’t just about who has an ancestral claim. He also argued that from a practical perspective, handing territory to a group that can’t govern itself is national suicide.
“The people of Gaza have shown that they are incapable of self-government. Incapable,” he told a student. “That when they are given self-government, it becomes a terrorist hotbed, and it becomes a nightmare for the Jewish people, and war ensues.”
That’s not a rhetorical statement—it’s an observation of fact. Every time the Palestinians have been given self-rule, it’s ended in corruption, chaos, and terror.
Charlie said it plainly:
“I think a two-state solution sounds great if you don’t actually live in reality. Let me tell you what reality is. The Arabs don’t want to govern their own people. They would rather hate Jews. Every day they’re saying death to the Jews, kill the Jews. They do not want to govern their own people. There is no middle ground when they’re screaming to the sky for intifada.”
Israel has tried again and again to make peace with its Arab Muslim neighbors. In 2005, the Israeli government even withdrew completely from Gaza—forcing 10,000 Jews from their homes—in a gesture of goodwill. Gazans responded by electing Hamas, and Muslim Palestinian leaders like Mahmoud Abbas continue to pay stipends to those who murder Jews. Because the “Palestine” project isn’t about building a state—it’s about destroying one. It’s a Trojan horse for more Islamic terrorism.
The Answer Is Simple
So who did Charlie believe the land belongs to—the Jews or the Palestinians?
He was unequivocal: it belongs to the Jewish people. Spiritually, historically, and politically. They’re not “occupying” it—they’re living in their God-given homeland.
There were no Palestinians when the Israelites conquered Canaan. The word itself didn’t exist. What exists now is a political weapon—a word used to delegitimize Jewish survival.
The Jewish people’s right to Israel isn’t a gift from the UN. It’s a truth that’s been written for thousands of years—on tablets, in Scripture, and in the blood of those who died defending it.
To Charlie, history, justice, and security all point in the same direction: Defend the Jewish homeland.
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