Short answer: No. Glenn Greenwald is a longtime, vocal critic of Israeli government policy, the occupation, and the pro-Israel lobby's influence on U.S. politics. He does not support Israel's actions in Gaza or the West Bank, and he argues that mainstream American backing for Israel is collapsing. He himself is Jewish by heritage (all four grandparents Jewish) but does not practice organized religion, and his Jewish background does not translate into support for Israeli state policy. As of August 2026, this remains his consistent position.
What Glenn Greenwald has actually said and done
- March 2009: Greenwald wrote critically about what he called the "Jewish lobby's" outsized grip on U.S. Middle East policy and its chilling effect on public debate, an early instance of the "Israel lobby" criticism he would return to for years. The characterization was later revisited by Algemeiner and by CAMERA, both of which took issue with his framing.
- May 14, 2014: Greenwald confirmed publicly that although all four of his grandparents were Jewish, who were more devoted to organized Judaism than his parents, he never had a bar mitzvah and does not practice organized Judaism, saying his "moral precepts aren't informed in any way by religious doctrine," according to Algemeiner.
- February 11, 2019: Greenwald defended Rep. Ilhan Omar after she was criticized for naming AIPAC's financial influence over U.S. politicians, arguing on Democracy Now! that criticizing the pro-Israel lobby's role in Washington is legitimate political discourse and that there is "nothing anti-Semitic about criticizing the Israeli government for its aggression and militarism."
- October 9, 2023: Two days after the Hamas attack on Israel, Greenwald said on his Rumble show System Update that the atrocities could not be justified, but warned against letting "grief and anger... affect morality and reason." He separately sharply criticized Israel's conduct in Gaza on his System Update broadcast.
- May 29, 2024: In an interview published by Reason, Greenwald argued for defunding U.S. military aid to Israel, framing continued American weapons support for the Gaza campaign as indefensible.
- March 4, 2026: In a column published in English on his Substack and in Brazil's Folha de S.Paulo, Greenwald argued that American public support for Israel has "collapsed, radically," citing Gallup polling showing more Americans now sympathize with Palestinians than Israelis for the first time. He said the longtime tactic of branding critics of Israel as antisemitic no longer works.
Who is Glenn Greenwald, and where does this criticism come from?
Glenn Greenwald, born March 6, 1967, in Queens, New York, is a journalist and lawyer best known for breaking the 2013 Edward Snowden NSA surveillance story. He now hosts the political commentary show System Update on Rumble. He is Jewish by descent on both sides of his family, including a grandmother who was a refugee from Nazi Germany, but he was not raised religiously observant and has said his ethics are not rooted in religious doctrine.
Across more than a decade of commentary, Greenwald has been a consistent and sharp critic of Israeli government policy: the occupation of the West Bank, the war in Gaza, and what he describes as the outsized influence of the "Israel lobby," principally AIPAC, on American foreign policy and domestic political debate. He has accused critics of weaponizing antisemitism accusations to suppress legitimate criticism of Israel, a framing that has itself drawn pushback from Jewish advocacy organizations, including Algemeiner, CAMERA, and JCFA, which say he invokes antisemitic "dual loyalty" tropes against American Jews who support Israel. Greenwald rejects that characterization.
His public record shows no reported visits to Israel, no reported donations to Israeli causes, and no known appearances in support of Israel. He has not been reported as an organizer of formal boycott campaigns such as BDS, though his policy positions, particularly opposing U.S. military aid to Israel, align in substance with boycott and divestment goals. His late husband, David Miranda, a Brazilian LGBT-rights activist and lawmaker, died in May 2023; no Israel-related statements are attributed to Miranda in the public record.
The bottom line
Glenn Greenwald does not support Israel's government or its policies. He is one of the most prominent and persistent American media critics of Israeli state actions and of the pro-Israel lobby's influence on U.S. politics, a position he has held consistently from at least 2009 through his most recent 2026 commentary. His own Jewish heritage does not translate into support for Israel.
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Last updated August 2026. We update these profiles as the record changes.
