‘Irony is dead’ following Starmer response to Charlie Kirk shooting

On Wednesday 10 September, a gunman shot  and killed right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. That same day, Keir Starmer hosted Isaac Herzog – the president of Israel – a country which is committing a genocide that the UK has supported both politically and militarily. It surprised many, then, when they read the final point Starmer made in response to Kirk’s death:

My thoughts this evening are with the loved ones of Charlie Kirk.

It is heartbreaking that a young family has been robbed of a father and a husband.

We must all be free to debate openly and freely without fear – there can be no justification for political violence.

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) September 10, 2025

Charlie Kirk: “irony is dead”

This same week, Israel bombed a building in Doha, Qatar were they were supposed to be engaging in peace talks. While the UK has officially condemned the attack, it’s also been reported that a UK refuelling aircraft was circling over Doha as the strike took place:

RAF plane seen over Doha during Israeli attack part of annual UK-Qatar exercisehttps://t.co/PXL3Ylp0JA

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) September 10, 2025

Why were RAF refuelling planes flying over Doha during the attack? https://t.co/A8EkOdzX8o

— annedavies (@annedavies127) September 9, 2025

As journalists like Matt Kennard have reported, UK surveillance planes are regularly flying over Gaza for some reason:

.@kennardmatt has been covering the story of UK surveillance flights over Gaza, & here he tells the Gaza Tribunal how, following the MoD moving from using RAF aircraft to leased planes from the US, the pilot of one of the flights forgot to turn off the planes transponder. pic.twitter.com/LV9HEzugn9

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) September 5, 2025

Among those who criticised Starmer were Sangita Myska:

Irony is dead.

Starmer, while tweeting about Charlie Kirk, says “We must all be free to debate openly and freely without fear – there can be no justification for political violence” whilst hosting the President of Israel, a country that assinates, bans & arrests its opponents.

— Sangita Myska (@SangitaMyska) September 11, 2025

Myska has good reason to scoff at the UK establishment talking about ‘free debate’, as Ed Sykes noted for the Canary:

Independent journalists, meanwhile, have risked arrest to hold the powerful to account. Or alternatively, they have risked their jobs or access to the halls of power. But their integrity has been their priority. LBC, for example, appeared to take away Sangita Myska’s job because she was too professional in holding Israel to account for its actions. The outlet soon replaced her with far-right pro-Israel agitator Suella Braverman.

Author Nels Abbey made the point that Starmer was quick to condemn the US shooting but has had little to say about surging far-right violence in the UK:

Part II of my thoughts on Charlie Kirk from today’s @gmb. In this clip I mention Keir Starmer being silent on political violence in the UK yet vocal on Kirk. And I mention the radicalising of young Black people and press racism laundering Kirk engaged in. pic.twitter.com/Y3jca7XMRN

— Nels Abbey (@nelsabbey) September 11, 2025

Another issue the UK has kept mostly quiet on is the high number of journalist casualties in Israel’s genocide:

Al Jazeera has published the names of every journalist killed since Oct 7th.

231 Palestinian journalists have been slaughtered in Gaza. A whole generation of reporters wiped out while many of their colleagues in the West simply shrugged. pic.twitter.com/2jlkO3Nl5N

— Barry Malone (@malonebarry) June 10, 2025

UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese recently highlighted how Israel’s eradication of journalists compares to other conflicts:

❗️Since Oct. 7, Israel has killed more journalists than:

– the U.S. Civil War
– World Wars I and II
– the Korean War
– the Vietnam War (incl. Cambodia and Laos)
– Former Yugoslavia wars, 1990s and 2000s
– the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan.

ALL COMBINED!!https://t.co/D4x56mQEFx pic.twitter.com/XzDB4zm6pE

— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) September 1, 2025

Another common point people made was highlighting that Herzog has seemingly condoned political violence himself, such as when he signed bombs set to be dropped on Gaza:

Oh sure https://t.co/BD9SADVPNa pic.twitter.com/jMPK2dkwOR

— Eleanor Penny (@eleanorkpenny) September 11, 2025

People also reflected on when Herzog said the following (seemingly condoning ‘collective punishment‘ – a war crime):

It is an entire nation out there that is responsible. This rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved, it’s absolutely not true. They could’ve risen up; they could have fought against that evil regime

It’s statements like this which encouraged Declassified UK to confront Herzog and the PM:

“Why are you shaking hands with a man who said there are no innocents in Gaza?”

Incredible work again by Declassified’s Phil Miller. Watch this👇 https://t.co/8wWYDKQrsg

— John McEvoy (@jmcevoy_2) September 10, 2025

Of course, Starmer’s meeting with Herzog wouldn’t be an issue if it was used to genuinely condemn the genocide and to explain the steps we would take to stop them continuing it. That clearly wasn’t what happened, though:

President Herzog 🇮🇱 reportedly told Chatham House thinktank what he said to Starmer🇬🇧:

‘Aid is entering Gaza 🇵🇸’
‘There is no famine in Gaza 🇵🇸’
‘Civilian deaths caused by “Hamas placing missiles in living rooms”’

Starmer welcomed a lying, mad, racist, war criminal

Disgusting. pic.twitter.com/ORCSCDwsHd

— Howard Beckett (@BeckettUnite) September 11, 2025

Violence cannot be contained

The establishment want us to believe there are two types of political violence:

• Political violence 😡.
• Political violence 😀.

The first is to be called out and condemned; the second is to be obscured or celebrated.

It’s a risky game to play, because violence begets violence, and you can’t predict where it erupt next.

Israel subjected the Palestinians to decades of apartheid before October 7th; Charlie Kirk described gun deaths as a price worth paying for the right to bear arms, claimed Black people were better off under segregation, and argued children should watch public executions as an “initiation”.

For both Charlie Kirk and Israel, the cycle of violence came around for them, as it could for any of us.

To stop this happening, we must push for peace and freedom at all times, and we must fight to end these wars which benefit no one but the arms manufacturers.

Starmer’s inability to do this shows why he’s unfit to hold office.

Featured image via Number 10