Does Damian Lillard Support Israel?

Tal Feldman Feb 25, 2025 Updated Jul 30, 2026 3 min read

Short answer: As of July 2026, Damian Lillard has not expressed support for Israel. His public record actually leans the other way: during the May 2021 Israel-Gaza conflict, mainstream coverage named him, alongside Kyrie Irving and Dwight Howard, among NBA players who posted messages of solidarity with the Palestinian people. There is no record of him visiting Israel, donating to Israeli causes, or having any Jewish-identity connection; he is Christian. He has made no documented statement, for or against Israel, since the October 7, 2023 war began.

What Damian Lillard has actually said and done

The record on Lillard and Israel is thin, but what exists is worth laying out in full, in order.

October 17, 2014: During the Portland Trail Blazers' preseason exhibition against Israeli club Maccabi Haifa, a pro-Palestinian protester approached Lillard with a flier at a separate street-dedication ceremony he was attending. Lillard called the timing "disrespectful" to the ceremony itself, telling The Columbian that "there's a time and a place for everything, and that wasn't the time or place." He was objecting to the disruption of the event, not weighing in on Israel or Palestine as a cause.
May 14, 2021: As the Israel-Gaza conflict escalated that spring, MSNBC/MS NOW reported that Lillard, along with Kyrie Irving and Dwight Howard, expressed solidarity with Palestinians as part of a wider wave of NBA players breaking their usual silence on the conflict.
May 19, 2021: A separate roundup of athletes speaking out for Palestine during that conflict again listed Lillard as having shared a "Solidarity with Palestine" graphic on social media, consistent with the MSNBC report.
Through July 2026: No documented statement, donation, visit, boycott, or event appearance connecting Lillard to Israel, in either direction, has surfaced since the October 7, 2023 war began. His Wikipedia biography and available reporting make no mention of Israel, Judaism, or Jewish heritage.

Where Lillard stands on Jewish identity and Israel

Damian Lillard, who played for the Portland Trail Blazers from 2012 to 2023 before joining the Milwaukee Bucks in 2023 and returned to Portland on a new three-year deal in 2025, has no reported Jewish heritage. He is a professed Christian, and no source connects him to Judaism or Jewish identity in any way. The two data points that do exist both point toward sympathy for the Palestinian side of the conflict rather than Israel: the 2021 solidarity post during that year's Gaza conflict, and the 2014 exhibition-game incident, which was really a complaint about the timing of a protest, not a comment on the underlying issue.

Coverage of his views has gone quiet since October 2023. That thinness likely reflects a player who has stayed largely silent on the current war rather than any change in his earlier position. It's also worth noting that the strongest source tying Lillard to the 2021 posts is MSNBC, corroborated by lower-tier outlets, and no primary post could be independently retrieved, so the exact wording or image he shared could not be confirmed firsthand. The underlying reporting, however, is consistent across sources.

The bottom line

Damian Lillard does not support Israel based on the public record. The documented evidence, a 2021 pro-Palestinian solidarity post reported by MSNBC, points the other way, and there is no countervailing evidence of Israel support, Jewish identity, or direct engagement with Israel. Fans looking for an NBA star with a clear pro-Israel record will need to look elsewhere.

Wear your own answer

Whatever Damian Lillard's stance, plenty of people want their support for Israel to be unmistakable. If that's you, Shop Israel's I Stand With Israel collection carries everyday pieces, like the I Stand With Israel t-shirt, made for exactly that: a plain, visible way to show where you stand, on the street or in the stands.

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