Three years after the Hamas attack on Israel, the questions Charlie Kirk raised days later — about how it happened and who gained from it — are being revived, and the picture is bleak for American politics and free speech.

• Days after the attack, Kirk publicly doubted the official account and predicted Israel would use it to clear Gaza of its people — the opposite of how his memory is now used.
• Netanyahu was facing mass protests and likely political collapse before the attack; afterward he got an emergency government and has held power ever since.
• The response has killed far more Palestinians than the 1,200 who died on October 7th, and senior Israeli politicians now openly call for killing everyone in Gaza, babies included.
• Washington has imported that mindset: a quarter million visas revoked over "anti-semitism," a term nobody will define beyond criticizing a foreign government, plus a Justice Department tour policing attitudes.
• The split over the war has blown apart both American political coalitions, driving a wedge between party establishments and their own voters.

Outlook: The conflicts set off three years ago are still spreading, and the fight at home over who is allowed to criticize Israel is likely to shape the coming midterms.