Short answer: As of August 2026, Robert De Niro is alive and has a documented, though not loudly vocal, record of support for Israel. He visited Israel in 2013 and praised Israelis' resilience in defending themselves, and he attended a major Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) fundraising gala in 2016. He has not made a public statement specifically on the Israel-Hamas war since October 7, 2023, and a widely shared 2024 video claiming he confronted pro-Palestinian protesters was actually a scripted TV rehearsal, not a real political statement. He has not boycotted Israel or any Israeli institution.
What Robert De Niro has actually said and done
- June 19, 2013: De Niro traveled to Jerusalem to attend President Shimon Peres's 90th-birthday "Facing Tomorrow" conference. According to the Times of Israel, he told the audience that Israelis are "forthright, very smart... aggressive, and I respect that aggressiveness because you need it in their situation." While in Jerusalem, he also visited the Western Wall with his teenage son Julian and placed a note in it.
- November 3, 2016: De Niro attended the Friends of the IDF (FIDF) Western Region Gala at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, an event hosted by Haim and Cheryl Saban that raised more than $38 million for the welfare of Israeli soldiers. He appeared alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and other celebrities, as reported by Ynetnews and documented in Getty Images' event photo archive.
- April 27, 2024: De Niro was filmed on a New York street rehearsing a scripted scene for the Netflix series "Zero Day," in which his character confronts a crowd of paid extras. Clips spread on social media in the following days, falsely captioned as De Niro personally berating real pro-Palestinian protesters over the Israel-Hamas war. Newsweek and Full Fact both confirmed it was a fictional film shoot, not a political statement of any kind.
- May 13, 2025: At the Cannes Film Festival opening ceremony, De Niro accepted an honorary Palme d'Or from Leonardo DiCaprio and used his speech to criticize President Trump, calling him a "philistine president" over film tariffs and actions affecting the Kennedy Center, according to Deadline. He made no statement about Israel or Gaza that night; a separate Gaza tribute at the same ceremony came from jury president Juliette Binoche, not De Niro.
Context: what his record does and doesn't show
De Niro's public record shows quiet, action-based support for Israel rather than outspoken advocacy. He is Italian-American on his father's side and of English, Dutch, and German descent on his mother's side. Claims that he has Jewish ancestry trace back to speculative tabloid theorizing from a 2010 story about his exit from a Mel Gibson film, and are not confirmed by any genealogical record, so that connection should be treated as unverified rather than fact. He has played Jewish characters on screen, most notably David "Noodles" Aaronson in "Once Upon a Time in America," but that is a professional acting credit, not a statement of personal identity.
Politically, De Niro is a well-known liberal and a frequent critic of Donald Trump, but that has not translated into any public criticism of Israel, any boycott activity, or any statement on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict itself. No credible reporting places him at pro-Palestinian rallies, signing anti-Israel letters, or making anti-Israel remarks. The one viral clip that seemed to suggest the opposite, of him supposedly confronting protesters, also turned out to be fictional, pulled from a TV rehearsal rather than real life. As of August 2026, there is no public record of him addressing the war that began on October 7, 2023, directly.
The bottom line
Robert De Niro has a real, documented pattern of support for Israel: a 2013 visit that included public praise for Israelis' resilience, plus attendance at a major 2016 FIDF gala that raised tens of millions of dollars for Israeli soldiers. He has not been an outspoken commentator on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and he has made no statement on the war since October 7, 2023. He also has not joined any boycott of Israel. Shoppers looking for a hard "pro-Israel activist" record won't find one here, but the actual record leans supportive, not neutral or hostile.
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Last updated August 2026. We update these profiles as the record changes.
