<description>&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;In the latest season of Assassinations Podcast, "By Blood and Fire," the show traces the history of targeted killings from Zionist militant groups in the British Mandate of Palestine—beginning with the 1924 assassination of Jacob Israël de Haan in Jerusalem—to the central role of this deadly tactic in Israel's foundation in 1948 and the new state’s security policy ever since. The season argues that Israel's longstanding embrace of assassination has influenced a radical shift in U.S. military strategy, culminating in the open use of decapitation strikes during the 2026 US-Israel war on Iran, including the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. This evolution, Niall contends, marks a dangerous new era in international affairs where assassination has moved from shadowy tactic to openly boasted tool of statecraft.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, &lt;a href="http://www.AssassinationsPodcast.com"&gt;www.AssassinationsPodcast.com&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;While there, you can check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, or shop our Merch Store to nab a logo tee or tote bag. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;You can also contact us through the website — we love to hear your comments, questions, corrections, and suggestions!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;You can find us on Twitter @AssassinsPod&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;And to support the show and gain access to exclusive content, go to &lt;a href="http://patreon.com/assassinationspodcast"&gt;patreon.com/assassinationspodcast&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

The season begins with the murder of a Jewish critic of Zionism.

“By Blood and Fire," the title of the tenth season of the show, explores the relationship of Zionism with assassination, from the 1924 slaying of Jacob Israël de Haan in Jerusalem, through Jewish militancy in British-ruled Palestine, to Israel's founding and modern tactics. Host Niall argues this has influenced a dangerous shift in US policy, with Washington openly embracing assassination in the 2026 war on Iran.

To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com 

While there, you can check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, or shop our Merch Store to nab a logo tee or tote bag. 

You can also contact us through the website — we love to hear your comments, questions, corrections, and suggestions!

You can find us on Twitter @AssassinsPod

And to support the show and gain access to exclusive content, go to patreon.com/assassinationspodcast

SEASON 10 INTRO: By Blood and Fire: Jacob Israël de Haan

<description>&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Empress Myeongseong (Queen Min), born Min Ja-yeong in 1851, was the child bride of the young King Gojong of Korea. This was during the Joseon isolationist era, overseen by her father-in-law, the conservative regent Heungseon Daewongun. As foreign powers pressured the "Hermit Kingdom," a 1870s coup to sideline the regent lead to an era of modernization. Japan’s 1895 victory in the First Sino-Japanese War ended Chinese influence, and Queen Min’s secret appeals to Russia for aid provoked Tokyo. On October 8, 1895, Japanese Minister Miura Gorō orchestrated her assassination, unleashing a process that would lead to Japan annexing Korea in 1910. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Korean nationalist lore casts Queen Min as a heroic modernizer and defender against imperialism. But many scholars highlight the virtual inevitability of the peninsula’s subordination to one foreign power or another, her factionalism, and risky foreign intrigues. Her brutal murder nevertheless forged an enduring legend of resistance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, &lt;a href="http://www.AssassinationsPodcast.com"&gt;www.AssassinationsPodcast.com&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;While there, you can check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, or shop our Merch Store to nab a logo tee or tote bag. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;You can also contact us through the website — we love to hear your comments, questions, corrections, and suggestions!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;You can find us on Twitter @AssassinsPod&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;And to support the show and gain access to exclusive content, go to &lt;a href="http://patreon.com/assassinationspodcast"&gt;patreon.com/assassinationspodcast&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Myth and reality can be hard to keep separate—never more so than in the story of Queen Min, also known as Empress Myeongseong.

This is a subject we’ve wanted to cover for a while. The tricky part is, Empress Myeongseong is a key figure in the modern national mythology of Korea. So, in this episode, we tell her story in narrative form before we break down the legend to try to get to the facts and theories about the life of a queen whose realm was the focal point of clashing empires.

To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com 

While there, you can check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, or shop our Merch Store to nab a logo tee or tote bag. 

You can also contact us through the website — we love to hear your comments, questions, corrections, and suggestions!

You can find us on Twitter @AssassinsPod

And to support the show and gain access to exclusive content, go to patreon.com/assassinationspodcast

Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.

Empress Myeongseong

<description>&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;On September 10, 2025, conservative activist Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, appeared to have been fatally shot in the neck during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, allegedly by 22-year-old Tyler James Robinson. The shot, we are told, was fired from a rooftop 142 yards away. The public narrative — spread by the FBI, TPUSA, and the mainstream media — is riddled with dubious details: Robinson’s unexplained hours on campus, multiple clothing changes, undetected rooftop assembly and firing, a 15-foot jump escape, ditching a reassembled rifle with his DNA, incriminating texts and notes (one destroyed), and surrender after a 33-hour manhunt facilitated by his parents and a Republican activist, yet no confession. Skeptics online have highlighted improbabilities like Robinson’s lack of marksmanship expertise, a massive security stand down at the UVU event, missing CCTV footage, possible evidence tampering by Kirk's team, and odd security guard movements moments before the shot — all suggesting the possibility that things aren’t quite as they are being portrayed by authorities. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Joined by longtime friend of the podcast, Kit Klarenberg, we look at all that plus the evidence of Kirk’s evolving politics in the months leading up to his demise, including recent criticisms of Israeli influence and Zionist donors, and we consider the extraordinary media-fueled political division that followed the as-yet unexplained events at UVU.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, &lt;a href="http://www.AssassinationsPodcast.com"&gt;www.AssassinationsPodcast.com&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;While there, you can check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related reading material, or shop our Merch Store to nab a logo tee or tote bag. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;You can also contact us through the website — we love to hear your comments, questions, corrections, and suggestions!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;You can find us on Twitter @AssassinsPod&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;To support the show and gain access to exclusive content, go to &lt;a href="http://patreon.com/assassinationspodcast"&gt;patreon.com/assassinationspodcast&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

The strange and gruesome events at UVU raise serious doubts about the public narrative of what really happened to the conservative influencer.

On September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was seemingly fatally shot in the neck by a single bullet during a Q&A event at Utah Valley University, allegedly by 22-year-old Tyler James Robinson. The official story is that the shooter was perched on a rooftop 142 yards away, though the bullet's lack of an exit wound and other anomalies echo the JFK "magic bullet" theory. Together with independent journalist Kit Klarenberg, we question the official narrative, look at possible alternative motives, and question whether Robinson may be a patsy in a broader conspiracy.

To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com 

While there, you can check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related reading material, or shop our Merch Store to nab a logo tee or tote bag. 

You can also contact us through the website — we love to hear your comments, questions, corrections, and suggestions!

You can find us on Twitter @AssassinsPod

To support the show and gain access to exclusive content, go to patreon.com/assassinationspodcast

Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.

Charlie Kirk

<description>&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;A pioneering Palestinian-American journalist whose reporting for Al Jazeera over 25 years gave global audiences a human perspective on life under Israeli occupation, Shireen Abu Akleh was known as “the voice of Palestine.” &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;On May 11, 2022, while covering an Israeli military raid in Jenin, she was fatally shot despite wearing clearly marked press gear. Multiple investigations — by the UN, CNN, The Washington Post, and others — concluded that Israeli forces were responsible, contradicting initial Israeli claims. Independent groups argued she was deliberately targeted, though Israel maintains it was accidental and has refused to take accountability or cooperate with international investigations.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Her killing was widely condemned as an attack on press freedom and a possible war crime, and her legacy endures as a symbol of Palestinian resilience and unflinching journalism in the face of military occupation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, &lt;a href="http://www.AssassinationsPodcast.com"&gt;www.AssassinationsPodcast.com&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;While there, you can check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, or shop our Merch Store to nab a logo tee or tote bag. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;You can also contact us through the website — we love to hear your comments, questions, corrections, and suggestions!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;You can find us on Twitter @AssassinsPod&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;And to support the show and gain access to exclusive content, go to &lt;a href="http://patreon.com/assassinationspodcast"&gt;patreon.com/assassinationspodcast&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

The renowned Palestinian-American journalist was killed while reporting on an Israeli raid in 2022, with her death widely recognized as an attack on press freedom.

A Palestinian-American journalist and longtime Al Jazeera correspondent, Shireen was known as “the voice of Palestine” for her coverage of life under Israeli occupation. Shot and killed while reporting on an IDF raid in Jenin, evidence points to an Israeli sniper being responsible, with strong indications that she was deliberately targeted.

To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com 

While there, you can check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, or shop our Merch Store to nab a logo tee or tote bag. 

You can also contact us through the website — we love to hear your comments, questions, corrections, and suggestions!

You can find us on Twitter @AssassinsPod

And to support the show and gain access to exclusive content, go to patreon.com/assassinationspodcast

Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.

Shireen Abu Akleh

<description>&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;In 2004, Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko claimed he was poisoned by pro-Russian rivals, an allegation that drew global attention due to his disfigured face and a diagnosis of dioxin poisoning. The incident fueled the pro-Western “Orange Revolution,” which overturned an initial election result and led to Yushchenko’s eventual victory. However, his presidency was marred by economic decline, corruption, and political infighting. By 2010, he had lost public support and finished with just 5% of the vote. Later investigations cast doubt on the poisoning, with some suggesting it may have been a politically motivated fabrication.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="p1" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, &lt;a href="http://www.AssassinationsPodcast.com"&gt;www.AssassinationsPodcast.com&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="p1" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;While there, you can check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, or shop our Merch Store to nab a logo tee or tote bag.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="p1" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;You can also contact us through the website — we love to hear your comments, questions, corrections, and suggestions!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="p1" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;If you’d like to support the show through our Patreon page, and get access to exclusive content, go to &lt;a href="http://patreon.com/assassinationspodcast"&gt;patreon.com/assassinationspodcast&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="p1" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;You can find us on Twitter @AssassinsPod&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="p1" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Allegedly poisoned with dioxin by in 2004, it has long been claimed this was a cynical election ploy.

Was Yushchenko poisoned by his political opponents on the eve of the “Orange Revolution” or could it have been part of a western-backed narrative being spun?

To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com 

While there, you can check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, or shop our Merch Store to nab a logo tee or tote bag. 

You can also contact us through the website — we love to hear your comments, questions, corrections, and suggestions!

If you’d like to support the show through our Patreon page, and get access to exclusive content, go to patreon.com/assassinationspodcast

You can find us on Twitter @AssassinsPod

Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.

Viktor Yushchenko

Each episode, Assassinations Podcast delves into one of history's most notorious assassinations and explores the mysteries and conspiracies that surround it.

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