ANKARA / ISTANBUL

American conservative leader Charlie Kirk was bullied by Jewish donors two days before his death, social media influencer Candace Owens said in a video shared on her YouTube channel.

She based her claim on screenshots allegedly showing messages written by Kirk in a private group chat.

Owens, who has long suggested that pressure from the Israeli lobby played a role in Kirk’s death, said in the video that his funding began to be cut off after he hosted guests critical of Israel at his events and shared messages that appeared to show he was preparing to leave the pro-Israel cause.

The pressure increased particularly after American journalist Tucker Carlson, known for his open criticism of Israel’s policies, appeared on Kirk’s program. Owens added that both she and Carlson had faced harassment for trying to “speak the truth” about Kirk’s death by gunfire last month.

A screenshot shared in the video, allegedly from a nine-member chat group, contained a message attributed to Kirk that said: “Just lost another huge Jewish donor. $2 million a year because we won’t cancel Tucker.”

Carlson, on his self-titled program on Sept. 17, said Kirk had often expressed negative views about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“He did not like Bibi Netanyahu and he said that to me many times and he said it to people around him many times. He felt that Bibi Netanyahu was a very destructive force,” Carlson said on his show.

Carlson added that Kirk believed Netanyahu uses the United States to fight wars serving Israel’s interests and that he found this shameful and humiliating.

He said “there was a small, very intense group who tormented Charlie Kirk until the day he died.”

Kirk was shot dead on Sept. 10 while speaking at an event at a university in the state of Utah. The suspect, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, was arrested shortly after the attack and remains in custody.

Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet on Tuesday confirmed the authenticity of a screenshot of a group text message released by Owens, saying he was “glad the truth is out.”

Speaking on the Charlie Kirk Show, Kolvet said the image circulating online was genuine and came from a message he had shared.

“I want to go into it because I actually am really excited that the truth is out there,” he said. “That was a text grab, a screen grab, that I had shared with people, so it is authentic,” he said.