Does Morgan Freeman Support Israel?

Noa Cohen Feb 27, 2025 4 min read

Short answer: As of July 2026, Morgan Freeman has never made an explicit political statement of support for Israel, but his documented actions lean friendly rather than hostile. He accepted an award from Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University in 2013 despite a loud BDS boycott campaign, filmed his National Geographic series "The Story of God" in Jerusalem across several years, and appeared in a 2019 ad for the Israeli company Tadiran. He treats Israel as a place of faith and filming, not as a cause he champions or condemns, so the fair read is friendly-but-apolitical.

What Morgan Freeman has actually said and done

May 6, 2013: Freeman traveled to Toronto and accepted the Key of Knowledge Award from Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, an honor tied to his work against racism. He went ahead despite a well-organized BDS boycott campaign (a petition with thousands of signatures, plus objections from Desmond Tutu and anti-apartheid figure Ahmed Kathrada), and the gala raised roughly $2 million for medical research, as reported by The Canadian Jewish News and rabble.ca.
October 2015: Freeman filmed in Israel for National Geographic's "The Story of God," including at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City. He told Reuters he was "primarily interested in why, what is the why of it," framing the visit as a religious inquiry rather than a political statement, per The Times of Israel.
April 12, 2016: Freeman posted a photo from Jerusalem to his Facebook page (over 18 million followers) captioned "Jerusalem, Israel." Pro-Palestinian critics flooded the post, and the location was subsequently removed, leaving the caption as "Jerusalem #StoryofGod" and dropping the word Israel. Jean-Claude Van Damme had similarly stripped "Israel" from his own March "Shalom from Jerusalem, Israel!" post weeks earlier. As The Times of Israel reported, the episode read as mixed: an Israel-tagged post that was later softened.
January 17, 2017: The Jewish Chronicle reported that Freeman, on the talk show "The Talk," recounted being asked to leave a religious site in Jerusalem during "The Story of God" filming for using the word "myth." He said, "There are certain words you can't use in certain places... I said myth. (They said), 'You, out.'" It was a cultural-sensitivity anecdote about religious terminology, not a political comment on Israel.
November 2018: Freeman returned to Israel to film for "The Story of God," spotted at the Western Wall in Jerusalem and later in Bethlehem in the West Bank. This time there was no publicity or comment from him, a deliberately low-key visit after the 2016 caption controversy, according to The Times of Israel.
January 2019: Freeman appeared in a television commercial for the Israeli air conditioning company Tadiran, playing on his God-and-narrator image ("Except in my own home, where I can control the weather... almost like God himself"). As The Times of Israel reported, it was a paid commercial endorsement of an Israeli brand.

The other Morgan Freeman, and where the boycott pressure came from

Morgan Freeman, the actor, was raised in Mississippi in a Christian context and has never claimed Jewish heritage. His connection to Israel is professional and interfaith, centered on National Geographic's "The Story of God with Morgan Freeman," which he stars in and executive-produces, filmed on location in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Megiddo and elsewhere across multiple seasons.

One identity note matters for anyone searching this topic. Several viral posts, including "US/Israel Occupying Gaza = Genocide" and "Free Gaza from Hamas, Free Israel from Netanyahu," come from the X account @mjfree, which belongs to Morgan J. Freeman, a white television producer and director (Teen Mom, 16 and Pregnant), NOT the actor. His bio literally reads "Not the actor!" and fact-checkers at Lead Stories and Newsweek have repeatedly clarified the mix-up. Those political posts should not be attributed to the actor.

The boycott dimension of the actor's record runs the opposite way from what BDS wanted. Pro-Palestinian groups (PACBI, BDS South Africa, Boycott from Within, plus a change.org petition) pressured him in 2013 to refuse the Hebrew University honor and in 2016 to scrub "Israel" from his Facebook caption. He accepted the 2013 award anyway, and while the 2016 caption was eventually softened, the underlying pattern of filming and honors in Israel continued.

The bottom line

Morgan Freeman is friendly-but-apolitical toward Israel, not a declared supporter and not a critic. The concrete record favors Israel: he crossed a BDS boycott campaign to accept a Hebrew University award in 2013, filmed repeatedly in Jerusalem, and lent his voice to an Israeli company's ad in 2019. He has never issued a statement backing Israel politically, and the harshly anti-Israel tweets circulating under the "Morgan Freeman" name are from a different man, Morgan J. Freeman the producer. For a pro-Israel audience, the fair summary is this: quietly Israel-friendly through his actions, silent on the politics.

Support Israel directly

Celebrities like Morgan Freeman can stay quiet or apolitical, but you do not have to. If Freeman's actions-over-words approach still leaves you wanting to say something plainly, you can wear your own answer. Our Support Israel collection is built for exactly that, from an I Stand With Israel bracelet you can wear every day to shirts, hats, and Star of David jewelry that let your stance speak without waiting for anyone famous to say it first.

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