Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated on Wednesday, was supposed to arrive in the country in January for a Ministry of Diaspora Affairs conference on combating antisemitism.
Israel Hayom has learned that Kirk confirmed his attendance after Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli invited him through a mutual acquaintance, Kirk's pastor, Rob McCoy. The Annual International Conference on Combating Antisemitism, which gathers many of Israel's most passionate supporters from around the world, was set to include Kirk this year, who frequently fought for Israel's reputation on campuses and in media interviews.
In a discussion between Chikli and Pastor Rob McCoy, the latter mentioned that Kirk seldom leaves the US. Nevertheless, his team would arrange the visit and his address at the conference. All of this, as noted, is now impossible.
Minister Chikli wrote a eulogy for Kirk on Wednesday, noting among other things that "Charlie was a man of faith who lived the value of liberty, breathed it, and radiated it in every word and every deed. He understood that liberty is not an empty slogan, but the foundation of human existence – the condition for any free and just society. He naturally represented the unique, deep, and unbreakable bond between Israel and the United States. He knew that liberty is the shared value that stands at the core of the connection between the ancient nation of liberty and the new nation of liberty."
Chikli also wrote that "at the time he was shot and murdered, while seeking to promote those same values through discourse and persuasion, he wore a white shirt on which was written a single word – liberty – a word that has become his legacy and a call to action – to continue the fight and to stand together, Jews and Christians, Americans and Israelis, to ensure that liberty will prevail over the sword of Islamist fanaticism and over neo-Marxist tyranny, which dons a liberal mask."
