Does Oliver Stone Support Israel?

Noa Cohen Feb 27, 2025 Updated Jul 27, 2026 4 min read

Short answer: As of July 2026, Oliver Stone does not support Israel's government or policies. The Oscar-winning director, whose father was Jewish though Stone was raised Protestant and does not identify as Jewish, has repeatedly criticized Israeli policy, U.S. support for Israel, and Prime Minister Netanyahu by name, most visibly during a July 2023 trip to the Jerusalem Film Festival. He has not joined the BDS boycott movement and has visited Israel multiple times, but his public record leans sharply critical rather than supportive.

What Oliver Stone has actually said and done

2002-2003: Stone traveled to Israel and the West Bank to make the documentary "Persona Non Grata," interviewing Israeli and Palestinian figures including Shimon Peres, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Yasser Arafat during the Second Intifada, according to the film's Letterboxd record.
July 25, 2010: In an interview with the Sunday Times of London, Stone said "Jewish domination of the media" had distorted historical understanding of Hitler and the Holocaust. He apologized days later, saying "Jews obviously do not control media or any other industry," as reported by J. The Jewish News of Northern California and The Jewish Chronicle.
June 29, 2023: Haaretz reported controversy over the Jerusalem Film Festival's decision to give Stone a lifetime achievement award, citing his history of pro-Kremlin commentary and the 2010 remarks; the Jerusalem Post covered the same backlash.
July 14, 2023: Stone accepted the lifetime achievement award at the 40th Jerusalem Film Festival and screened his documentary "Nuclear Now." In interviews covered by Israel Hayom and the Jerusalem Post, he said "Netanyahu has chosen some strange partners, fundamentalist types, I would say," and reflected on the unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict: "it was Ramallah then, Gaza, and now it's Jenin."
2023: Ynetnews profiled the contradiction of Stone calling aspects of Israel "the worst" in interviews while still accepting the festival honor and returning to visit the country.
2007: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad publicly rejected Stone's proposal to make a documentary about him, calling Stone part of the "Great Satan" cultural establishment; Stone later traveled to Tehran to attend the Fajr Film Festival, according to the Times of Israel. This reflects journalistic interest in Iran's leadership, not a stated political endorsement of Iran.
2024: In recorded interviews that circulated widely online, Stone continued criticizing Netanyahu's motives in Middle East conflicts and U.S. backing of Israel during the Gaza war. Stone is also listed on the advisory board of Veterans for Peace, an anti-war nonprofit critical of U.S. military spending.

His Jewish ancestry, and how the industry connects to Israel

Oliver Stone's connection to Israel runs through decades of documentary work and public commentary rather than advocacy, donations, or institutional ties. His only dedicated Israel-related film is "Persona Non Grata" (2002-2003), made during a reporting trip in which he interviewed both Israeli leaders (Peres, Netanyahu) and Palestinian leadership (Arafat). He has visited Israel more than once, most notably for the July 2023 Jerusalem Film Festival, where he was honored with a lifetime achievement award and screened "Nuclear Now," his pro-nuclear-energy climate documentary. That honor was itself controversial in Israel because of his 2010 remarks blaming "Jewish domination of the media" for distorting Holocaust history, for which he apologized.

On his family background: Stone's father, Louis Stone (born Silverstein), was Jewish, with Ashkenazi roots traced to Germany, Poland, and Russia. His mother was a French Catholic. Stone was raised Episcopalian/Protestant as a compromise between the two, and has said he does not hold a Jewish religious or cultural identity himself, despite the ancestry.

Politically, Stone has been a consistent critic of Israeli government policy and of U.S. military and diplomatic support for Israel, and he has directed sharp public criticism at Netanyahu personally, calling their partnership with "fundamentalist types" strange and questioning Netanyahu's motives in interviews. He is not a participant in the BDS boycott movement and does not appear on published boycott-signatory lists; his approach has instead been to visit, engage, and criticize openly rather than refuse contact. One clarification worth noting: a widely circulated 2025 Hollywood boycott of Israeli film institutions, reported by NPR and Fox News, involved actress Emma Stone, not Oliver Stone. The two are frequently confused online but are unrelated public figures, and no reputable source ties Oliver Stone to that boycott.

The bottom line

Oliver Stone does not support Israel's government or its current policies; he has been a vocal, repeat critic of Netanyahu and U.S. backing for Israel while still visiting the country and engaging with it directly rather than boycotting it. He has Jewish ancestry through his father but does not hold a Jewish identity himself. He has not expressed formal support for Iran, despite past interest in making a documentary about Iran's leadership.

Support Israel directly

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