Within hours of the April 25, 2026 assassination attempt on President Donald Trump, social media lit up with a familiar conspiracy theory: that Jews—or the State of Israel—were behind the attack.
There is no evidence—none—that Jews or Israel had anything to do with the attack. The claim rests entirely on fabricated images, recycled conspiracy tropes, and basic misunderstandings of time zones.
How the False Narrative Started
A photo began circulating online that supposedly showed the shooter, Cole Allen, wearing a sweatshirt with an IDF logo. One of the top accounts that tweeted the photo was “Jvnior,” run by a self-described “Muslim Palestinian” and previously demonetized for repeated disinformation.
“Israel just tried to murder Trump,” Jvnior declared. “An IDF terrorist just shot up the White House,” he added in another post.
The same image and narrative were amplified by other figures, including Muslim influencer Suleiman Ahmed and neo-Nazi podcaster Jake Shields. Even Mario Nawfal, a journalist with 3.4 million followers, briefly shared the image. It was picked up by news sites like Times of India.
No, the Photo Isn’t Real
The image was not verified by any credible source. It originated from an obscure account called “The Maga Report,” which has fewer than 500 followers and routinely promotes conspiracy theories blaming Jews for global events.
There is no evidence that Cole Allen ever posted or wore the sweatshirt in question.
After the lack of verification became clear, Mario Nawfal deleted his post and issued a correction. He shared another image of Allen—same pose, same framing—this time appearing to wear a shirt promoting Pakistan, exposing the earlier image as fabricated or manipulated.
The “Google Search” Claim—Debunked Again
The same accounts circulated screenshots showing Google searches for “Cole Allen” supposedly originating in Israel hours before the attack. The implication is that prior knowledge means involvement.
This is a recycled conspiracy theory that falls apart under basic scrutiny. It relies on ignoring time zones: Israel is 7–10 hours ahead of the United States, so searches that appear in U.S. time to occur “before” an event were in fact made after it in real time.
The same pattern showed up in Qatar, where search timestamps also appeared “early.” Notably, no one rushed to accuse Qatar of orchestrating the attack. The logic only seems to apply when Israel is the target.
Expanding the Claim: “The Jews Did Every Assassination”
Some accounts went even further. One user, @IanMalcolm84, claimed Jews were behind the attack on President Trump because Jews were responsible for every U.S. presidential assassination.
As supposed evidence, the account asserted that John Wilkes Booth—the man who killed President Abraham Lincoln—was Jewish.
That claim is flatly false. Booth was baptized Episcopalian, never identified as Jewish, and—under Jewish law—would not have been considered Jewish anyway, as his mother was not Jewish.
More broadly, there is no evidence linking Jews to any U.S. presidential assassination. Claims that Israeli intelligence, often vaguely labeled as “the Mossad,” was behind the killing of John F. Kennedy have circulated for decades—without producing a single piece of credible evidence.
Who the Shooter Actually Was
The conspiracy theory collapses even further under basic facts about the attacker himself.
Cole Allen was not Jewish. In his own manifesto, he identified as a Christian. The document contains no references to Israel and no expression of allegiance to Israel.
Allen also aligned himself with the transgender community, a political space that has been overwhelmingly pro-Palestine and strongly critical of Israel—hardly consistent with the idea that he acted on Israel’s behalf. If anything, Allen would have been motivated by pro-Palestinians sentiment, a common trait among mass shooters.
The Final Contradiction: Motive Makes No Sense
Perhaps the most glaring flaw in the conspiracy theory is that the same voices pushing it have repeatedly claimed that Donald Trump is controlled by Israel or acts in Israel’s interest.
Some have even mocked him as subordinate to Israeli leadership, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Those claims cannot coexist. If Trump were aligned with Israel, there would be no motive for Israel to target him. If he controls Israel, Israel could not have attacked him.
Either way, the accusation falls apart.
Takeaway
Once again, the familiar crowd wasted no time blaming Israel and “the Jews” for the Trump assassination attempt. Their “evidence”: a crudely fabricated photo of the shooter in an IDF sweatshirt, easily debunked Google search screenshots that reveal a basic misunderstanding of time zones, and the absurd claim that John Wilkes Booth was Jewish.The shooter himself is a self-identified Christian who aligns with the transgender community — a demographic hardly known for its warm feelings toward Israel.
The theory requires believing that Israel tried to assassinate a president it supposedly controls. The contradictions pile up, yet the narrative marches on undeterred by facts, logic, or basic coherence. This is the same reflexive Jew-hatred, repackaged as conspiracy theory for another news cycle.
Sources
X, X, X, X, Times of India, X, X, Smithsonian Magazine, Daily Wire, Daily Wire, Wikipedia, X, X, X, Fox News, The Guardian, FDD, The Media Line
