Does Conan O'Brien Support Israel?

David Svetsky Feb 18, 2025 4 min read

Short answer: As of July 2026, Conan O'Brien's public record on Israel consists almost entirely of one 2017 trip. He traveled to Israel to film "Conan Without Borders: Israel" for his TBS show, met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, toured Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, and also crossed into the West Bank, where he spoke on camera with Palestinian activists near the separation wall. The special, which aired September 19, 2017, was generally warm and comedic toward Israel and drew real criticism from some commentators, including in Haaretz, as one-sided, "hasbara"-style promotion. No evidence was found of Israel-related donations, boycott participation or refusal, event appearances, or public statements by O'Brien outside that 2017 trip, and no Jewish-identity connection is documented in the record reviewed.

What Conan O'Brien has actually said and done

August 28, 2017: Ahead of O'Brien's arrival, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted a satirical welcome video to social media, publicly acknowledging the trip before it aired, according to the Times of Israel.
August 29, 2017: O'Brien met Netanyahu and his wife Sara at the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem for dinner (and fed their dog), then visited the Western Wall and Jerusalem's Old City, and traveled into the West Bank toward Bethlehem while filming his TBS travel special. This was reported by Haaretz and confirmed by Ynetnews.
During the trip (August 2017): In the West Bank, O'Brien was approached by Palestinian activists near the separation wall. When asked if the wall seemed normal, he replied, "No, I don't think any wall like this is normal," and one activist called the area "an open-air prison," according to Yahoo Entertainment, with the exchange also documented on Wikipedia.
September 19, 2017: "Conan Without Borders: Israel" aired on TBS, featuring guests Gal Gadot and Lior Raz, visits to the Dead Sea and Jerusalem markets, and volunteer time with Syrian war refugees at Ziv Medical Center in Safed, per Wikipedia and the Hollywood Reporter.
September 5, 2017: Haaretz published an opinion piece by Hagar Shezaf arguing O'Brien "became a patsy for Netanyahu's propaganda," contending the special showcased only Israel's positive, cosmopolitan side while normalizing the occupation and giving Palestinian encounters only superficial treatment. Read the Haaretz opinion piece; a similar argument appeared at Mondoweiss.
2018: The "Conan Without Borders" travel-special format, which includes the Israel episode, won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special and drew further nominations in 2019, per Wikipedia. This reflects the format's overall popularity on the show rather than an Israel-specific honor.

Context: a comedian's trip, not an advocate's cause

Conan O'Brien is a comedian and late-night host, not a political figure or activist, and his connection to Israel is a single, well-documented trip: the August 2017 filming of "Conan Without Borders: Israel," which aired on TBS on September 19, 2017. Multiple reputable outlets, including Haaretz, Ynetnews, the Times of Israel, Wikipedia, and the Hollywood Reporter, confirm the core itinerary: a dinner meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, tours of Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, and a segment in the West Bank where O'Brien engaged directly, on camera, with Palestinian activists at the separation wall, telling them he did not think the wall was "normal." That exchange was more substantive than a passing cameo, though the special's overall tone stayed comedic and travelogue-focused rather than polemical.

The special was not uniformly praised. Haaretz's Hagar Shezaf wrote a pointed critique calling O'Brien a "patsy" for Israeli government messaging, and other outlets made similar arguments that the episode functioned as a soft public-relations win for the Israeli government by presenting a cosmopolitan, conflict-light Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. That criticism is real and traceable to named authors and outlets, though it should be read as commentary and opinion rather than settled fact.

A comprehensive search for any Israel-related statement, donation, boycott stance, or public appearance by O'Brien after 2017, through July 2026, turned up nothing in the sources checked. That absence should be read as "not found in what was checked" rather than a confirmed clean record for the years since. No source reviewed documents any Jewish-identity connection for O'Brien either.

The bottom line

Conan O'Brien is not a political advocate, donor, or campaigner for Israel. His entire documented Israel connection is a single 2017 TBS travel-comedy special in which he met Netanyahu, toured Jerusalem, and also crossed into the West Bank for a real, if brief, exchange with Palestinian activists critical of the separation wall. The special read as broadly warm toward Israel and drew genuine "soft propaganda" criticism from Haaretz and other commentators. No evidence surfaced of any Israel-related activity by O'Brien before or after that 2017 trip, and no Jewish-identity link is documented.

Wear your own answer

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Last updated July 2026. We update these profiles as the record changes.