Short answer: No. As of August 2026, Noam Chomsky does not support Israel's government policies or its self-definition as a Jewish state. He is Jewish and briefly lived on an Israeli kibbutz as a young man, but since the 1970s he has been one of the most prominent global critics of Israeli government actions toward Palestinians, calling the occupation "apartheid" (and, in his own words, worse), and since October 2023 describing Israel's Gaza campaign as genocide. He has never renounced his Jewish identity or affiliation, and his positions on boycott tactics have been more mixed than a blanket "boycott everything" stance: he has supported boycotts of settlement products specifically while criticizing parts of the broader BDS movement's strategy.
What Noam Chomsky has actually said and done
1953: Chomsky and his wife, Carol, lived for several months on Kibbutz HaZore'a in Israel. He later said he "loved it" but "couldn't stand the ideological atmosphere" of fervent nationalism there, according to a 2010 interview published at chomsky.info, alongside Look Back to Galilee, citing his own interviews, a recollection corroborated on his personal site, chomsky.info.
Before 1974: Drawing on his youth in left-Zionist groups like Hashomer Hatzair, Chomsky publicly supported a binational, non-state solution for Arabs and Jews in Palestine rather than a sovereign Jewish state. After 1974 he concluded that goal was no longer politically achievable and shifted to backing the internationally recognized two-state framework, as he explained in an interview with the Institute for Palestine Studies.
May 2010: Israeli authorities denied Chomsky entry into the West Bank at the Allenby Bridge crossing while he was traveling to lecture at Birzeit University, an incident that drew international criticism of Israel, reported by the World Socialist Web Site.
July 2014: Chomsky publicly criticized parts of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement's strategy as unrealistic given the lack of international sanctions on Israel, while stating in The Nation that he has long supported and personally participated in boycotts of Israeli settlement products specifically, a position that predates the BDS movement itself.
August 2014: Speaking on Democracy Now!, Chomsky said Israel's actions in the occupied Palestinian territories are "much worse than apartheid" as it was practiced in South Africa, arguing that the apartheid label actually understates the situation.
June 2023: Chomsky, then 94, suffered a serious stroke in the United States and was later flown to a hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil, his wife Valeria Wasserman's home country. Per Democracy Now!, the stroke impaired his speech and significantly weakened the right side of his body.
June 2024: Chomsky was discharged from the Sao Paulo hospital to continue recovery and physical therapy at home. His wife, Valeria Wasserman, told Arab News that he was recovering and following the news, and Vijay Prashad, speaking to Democracy Now, described him raising his left arm in anger at images of Israel's war in Gaza, a sign of continued strong disapproval of the conflict.
August 4-5, 2026: A hoax claim that Chomsky had died circulated online, originating from a fake Facebook memorial page. His representatives confirmed on August 5, 2026 that he remains alive, stating "He's still alive and well, stop believing what you see on the Internet," per Mediamass. This is not the first such hoax; a similar false death claim was debunked by PolitiFact in 2024. At 97, he continues to reside in Brazil, recovering from his 2023 stroke.
Where Chomsky's views actually come from
Noam Chomsky, born in 1928, is a Jewish American linguist and public intellectual who was raised in a Hebrew-speaking, culturally Zionist household. As a young man he was affiliated with left-wing Zionist youth movements, including Avukah and Hashomer Hatzair, that favored Jewish cultural revival in Palestine through a binational, non-state, socialist model rather than a sovereign Jewish state. He and his wife lived on Kibbutz HaZore'a for several months in 1953, and he has spoken warmly of that period in his life.
From the 1970s onward, however, Chomsky became one of the world's most prominent critics of Israeli state policy, particularly the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, U.S. military and diplomatic support for Israel, and, since the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023 and Israel's subsequent Gaza campaign, Israel's conduct of the war, which he has characterized as genocide. Importantly, he does not reject Jewish identity or peoplehood, and his positions on Palestinian solidarity tactics have been more nuanced than a blanket opposition: he has criticized parts of the BDS movement's strategic logic on grounds of effectiveness while personally supporting and participating in narrower boycotts of Israeli settlement products for decades.
The bottom line
Chomsky does not support Israel as a state, and he never has in the sense of endorsing its policies or its self-definition as the Jewish nation-state. But he also does not oppose Israelis or Jews as a people. He is a Jewish American who briefly lived on an Israeli kibbutz in 1953 and once identified with left-wing Zionist youth movements, but for more than 60 years he has been one of the world's most consistent critics of Israeli government policy, calling the occupation apartheid or worse, and, since October 2023, describing Israel's war conduct in Gaza as genocide. He remains alive as of August 2026, recovering in Brazil from a 2023 stroke that left him with significant speech and mobility impairment.
Wear where you stand
Whatever any single public intellectual says, Israel's story is still being written by the people who show up for it every day. If you want to make your own position visible, our I Stand With Israel collection is a simple, wearable way to do it.
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Last updated August 2026. We update these profiles as the record changes.
