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America Orphaned Charlie Kirk’s Children — We Must Recommit to a Society of Open Debate
Roses and candles are placed next to a picture of Charlie Kirk during a vigil under the line “In Memory of Charlie Kirk, for freedom, patriotism, and justice” in front of the Embassy of the United States after US right-wing activist, commentator, Charlie Kirk, an ally of US President Donald Trump, was shot dead during an event at Utah Valley University, Orem, US, in Berlin, Germany, Sept. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Annegret Hilse
Last week, America orphaned two young children.
Charlie Kirk — a husband, a father, and a son — was murdered for his politics. He leaves behind a three-year-old daughter and a one-year-old son. Before we argue motives or policies, we should sit with this simple fact: in today’s America, toddlers lost their father because of what he believed. What kind of legacy is that for them?
Political violence has scarred this nation before. In the 1960s, John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas, Robert Kennedy in Los Angeles, and Martin Luther King, Jr., in Memphis. Those assassinations did more than take lives. They deepened mistrust, fueled cynicism, and plunged a divided country into turmoil.
We appear to be back in that dangerous territory. The attempted assassination of President Trump last summer should have been a moment of unity. Instead, it was quickly absorbed into the partisan crossfire, treated as conspiracy fodder rather than as a flashing red warning.
Now comes the murder of Charlie Kirk. Whatever one thinks of his politics, Kirk embodied a younger generation of conservative voices: brash, combative, sometimes polarizing — but willing to engage with opposing ideas. He didn’t hide from debate. He invited it. That spirit, not the bullet that killed him, should be his legacy.
I’ve seen firsthand how difficult honest engagement has become. I recently completed my first year as CEO of The Algemeiner, a storied Jewish online media outlet. We are broadly center-right, but our mission has always been universalism, which is the translation of the Yiddish word Algemeiner: to provide space for diverse perspectives, including those we disagree with.
In today’s climate, that modest aspiration feels almost radical. Too many Americans don’t just want to win an argument. They want to delegitimize the other side. The result is echo chambers where grievances fester and extremists thrive.
History tells us where that road leads. The political murders of the 1960s did not settle disputes. They destabilized a nation. We should have learned then that violence is not catharsis. It is contagious.
The stakes today are not abstract. They live in the faces of Kirk’s daughter and son — and all of our children. What kind of America will they inherit? One where political disagreements are handled with contempt and violence — or one where adversaries still recognize each other as fellow citizens?
A reset is urgently needed. That doesn’t mean surrendering convictions. It means recovering the courage to listen, to tolerate, and to argue without erasing. Leaders on both sides must resist the urge to score points from tragedy and instead cool the temperature. Media institutions, including my own, must hold space for genuine, even uncomfortable debate. Citizens must step back from the dopamine rush of outrage and recommit to the hard work of coexistence.
Charlie Kirk’s murder is a tragedy. It is also a mirror. It reflects the society we have allowed ourselves to become — and dares us to choose differently. His children will grow up in the country we shape now. Let it be one where their father’s legacy is remembered not only for what he said, but for his willingness to engage across divides.
That is the democratic inheritance worth fighting for — not with bullets, but with words.
David M. Cohen is the Chief Executive Officer of The Algemeiner.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.