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This is the story of how, in the early 1960s, Mossad chief Isser Harel set out to wreck Gamal Abdel Nasser’s rocket program after Egypt recruited German engineers—some of them veterans of Hitler’s V-2 work—to build missiles that could hit Israel from launch sites located the deep inside Egypt’s western desert. Harel, apparently, brought in Otto Skorzeny, a former SS commando once dubbed “the most dangerous man in Europe”. From there came late-night threats, intimidation, letter bombs … and a murder along a remote forest track outside Munich. Nasser’s missile program died in the sand thanks to Operation Damocles, but this is one of the coldest bargains in the history of the Israeli state: Zionist spies and an unrepentant Nazi, working the same dirty trade to keep a Greater Israel from ever meeting its match. 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

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. 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

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. 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. 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.

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. 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. 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.

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.” 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. 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. 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.

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. 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.

Jonathan Moyle, likely an MI6/CIA asset, died suspiciously in Santiago, Chile, in March 1990, after questioning Cardoen Industries’ alleged military helicopter sales to Iraq. His death, ruled a suicide, showed signs of murder. Wensley Clarkson’s book, which we used as a key source for our episode on this case last year, suggested Cardoen’s role, but new evidence shows Cardoen’s Bell 206 helicopters were civilian, not military, by the end of 1988, as confirmed by FAA-approved inspectors. Moyle’s aggressive questioning of Cardoen Industries about military use for the helicopter may reflect a covert US and UK plan to frame Cardoen after Iraq’s August 1990 Kuwait invasion. In the light of this information, Moyle’s death and British cover-up efforts suggest MI6/CIA involvement, more than Cardoen’s lieutenants. 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 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.

Independent journalists Kit Klarenberg and Tim Norman have conducted significant investigations into the alleged 2018 assassination attempt on Sergei Skripal, a former Russian intelligence officer turned British spy, and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, England. The episode also covers the related death of Dawn Sturgess in nearby Amesbury, which was recently the subject of a UK inquiry.  Skripal, who betrayed Russia for MI6 in the 1990s, was settled in Salisbury after a spy swap in 2010. On March 4, 2018, he and Yulia were found unconscious on a bench, allegedly poisoned by the nerve agent "novichok," which the British government attributed to Russian operatives. The official narrative claims this poison was smeared on Skripal’s door, though inconsistencies—such as the delayed onset of symptoms, the survival of the Skripals, and lack of definitive evidence linking the agent to Russia—raise doubts about the UK government’s story. Months later, Englishwoman Dawn Sturgess died after reportedly spraying herself with "novichok" from a sealed perfume bottle found by her boyfriend, Charlie Rowley, prompting further accusations against Russia. However, the apparently sealed bottle and the inability of scientists to confirm the nerve agent’s origin undermined the government’s claims.  The British narrative was shaky and possibly propped up by intelligence-linked entities like Bellingcat and the Institute for Statecraft’s Integrity Initiative, which may have pushed disinformation. The recently concluded Sturgess Inquiry, designed to control the narrative, inadvertently exposed its weaknesses. To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com  You can find Tim’s work on the Propaganda in Focus website (https://propagandainfocus.com/author/h7_2q94aatnh5/) and UK Column (https://www.ukcolumn.org/writer/tim-norman), as well as on X.com @timtron2020 Kit writes for The Grayzone website (https://thegrayzone.com/author/kit-klarenberg/), including on the Skripal/Sturgess case: https://thegrayzone.com/2025/01/13/british-inquiry-skripal-poisoning/. He’s also on X.com @KitKlarenberg You can also contact the show through our website — we love to hear your comments, questions, corrections, and suggestions! And you can find us on X @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.

Jonathan Moyle, once an RAF pilot and editor of the specialist trade journal Defense Helicopter World, died under suspicious circumstances in Santiago, Chile, in 1990. Was his death linked to his investigation of an arms deal involving Carlos Cardoen and Saddam Hussein's Iraq, focusing on converting civilian Bell helicopters for military use? Moyle’s aggressive questioning at an arms fair seems to have made him a likely target. But was was there more going on? While his death was ruled a suicide, evidence — like a sedative injection — suggested it was in fact a murder. The British government seemed to cover up the case, first claiming suicide, then suggesting a sex game mishap, to obscure Moyle’s espionage ties. 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 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.

With the US election upon us, host Niall takes a look at this year’s political drama, including two apparent attempts on the life of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Things often aren’t quite what they seem—especially in the world of high-level politics—and this might be no exception. 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 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.

When the United States decided to extend its “manifest destiny” across the Pacific Ocean to the Philippines at the end of the 19th century, Antonio Luna helped to defend his country. His assassination at the hands of his fellow Filipinos dealt a mortal blow to the independence movement. 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 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.

In the conclusion of our look at the assassination of John Lennon, we discover that it is a virtual impossibility that the man who has spent the last 44 years behind bars for the crime, Mark Chapman, could have done it. While Chapman confessed to the crime — and may truly believe he committed murder — the evidence simply does not support this, as Niall discusses with David Whelan, the author of Mind Games: the Assassination of John Lennon. To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com  There, you can find a map of the entrance area of the Dakota Building, taken from David Whelan’s book. You can order David’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Games-Assassination-John-Lennon/dp/B0CPMYSK9Z You can also contact us through the website — we love to hear your comments, questions, corrections, and suggestions! And 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.

In the first of a two-part look at the murder of John Lennon, we look at the life and work of the former Beatle, and the strange story of the man who was convicted of killing him, Mark Chapman. Host Niall speaks with author David Whelan about his fascinating new book Mind Games: The Assassination of John Lennon, which contains important and surprising fresh insight on the case. 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 you can order David’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Games-Assassination-John-Lennon/dp/B0CPMYSK9Z 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.

A Fairfax, Virginia based computing journalist who had turned his hand to deep-dive investigative journalism, in the early-1990s Casolaro was looking into an alleged theft of cutting-edge software by the US Government, which led him down a rabbit hole of seemingly bizarre conspiracy theories — thanks to disinformation fed to him by a shady self-professed tech expert — a project that Casolaro called “The Octopus”. His dead body was found in the bathtub of a hotel room in a small town in West Virginia on August 10th, 1991. He had gone there to meet at least one contact who was helping with his investigation. While police assumed it had been a suicide, not everything added up to that conclusion — not least the strange circumstances leading up to Casolaro’s death. 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 If you’d like to support the show, we have a Patreon page. We offer a variety of support levels with lots of fun perks, including bonus episodes, videos, stickers, merch store credit, and more! Find us at 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.

Alexander Odeh was a Palestinian who had moved to the United States in the 1970s. While engaged in political activism in support of Arab people, both in the Middle East and in the USA, he was killed in a bombing attack widely attributed to a Jewish American terrorist cell. The alleged perpetrators subsequently fled to Israel in order to evade murder charges. One of the potential murderers, Andy Green / Baruch Ben-Yosef, is back in the news as he seemingly leads protests aimed at preventing essential aid from reaching starving Palestinians in Gaza. 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 If you’d like to support the show, we have a Patreon page. We offer a variety of support levels with lots of fun perks, including bonus episodes, videos, stickers, merch store credit, and more!  Find us at 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.