Short answer: As of July 2026, Robert Reich (economist, former U.S. Labor Secretary, and public commentator, who is Jewish) does not support Israel's current government or its conduct of the Gaza war. He consistently condemned Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack as "unmitigated evil," but grew sharply more critical of Israel over the course of the war, culminating in a July 2025 essay in which he wrote he is "no longer proud of Israel." He has defended pro-Palestinian campus protesters as not inherently antisemitic, favors a ceasefire, humanitarian aid, and a Palestinian state, and has not been found to endorse formal BDS boycotts. This is a shift, not a lifelong position: he has described being raised to see Israel as a source of righteousness and a "lifeboat" for Jews.
What Robert Reich has actually said and done
- March 2015: Reich, then a private citizen, criticized Prime Minister Netanyahu's planned address to Congress, writing in a Facebook post that the alliance between Netanyahu, the Republican Party, AIPAC, and some wealthy right-wing American Jews was "poisoning the relationship" between Israel and the United States, according to the Times of Israel.
- December 15, 2023: In an op-ed syndicated by Eurasia Review, Reich called for "moral clarity" on campus about the Hamas-Israel war, condemning Hamas's October 7 attack and hostage-taking as "unmitigated evil" while also questioning the proportionality of Israel's retaliatory airstrikes on Gaza.
- January 25, 2024: In a follow-up piece titled "Moral Clarity in Gaza," also carried by Eurasia Review, Reich again called Hamas's October 7 attack "unmitigated evil," writing that "moral clarity requires that the world condemn" it, while separately arguing there was "no moral clarity in wreaking vengeance on innocent people" in Gaza.
- Late April 2024: On X, Reich wrote, "Antisemitism is never acceptable. But protesting against the slaughter in Gaza is not inherently antisemitic. It is doing what should be done on a college campus, taking a stand against a perceived wrong, thereby provoking discussion and debate," according to his verified account.
- April 28, 2024: Writing in Newsweek, Reich defended pro-Palestinian student protesters against arrest, arguing that peaceful demonstrations against the war should not be shut down by police.
- July 29, 2025: In a Substack essay titled "A betrayal of the victims of the Holocaust," Reich pointed to a famine declaration for Gaza and a Gallup poll showing roughly six in ten Americans disapprove of Israel's military actions, and wrote that Israel's public silence amounted to "an absolute betrayal of Holocaust victims, in whose name we demanded a state for ourselves." He described being raised to see Israel as "a source of righteousness, a light unto the nations," and wrote that he is now "ashamed," concluding, "I will keep on going, keep on fighting, but I am no longer proud of Israel." Breitbart covered the essay the following day, noting its sharp break from his earlier balanced tone.
- June 30, 2026: In another Substack post, Reich wrote that "the sharp decline in Israel's popularity over its prosecution of the two-year war in Gaza had already strained the relationship," pointing to pro-Palestinian, Mamdani-backed candidates beating moderates in New York Democratic primaries as further evidence of a strained Israeli-American alliance.
Jewish identity and where Reich's commentary fits
Reich is not a public figure known for personal ties to Israel. No reported visits, donations to Israeli causes, event appearances in Israel, or organized boycott activity turned up in the record. He is Jewish, and his father faced antisemitism in early-20th-century New York; Reich has written that he was raised to view Israel as a righteous "lifeboat" for Jews after the Holocaust. His public record on Israel is built entirely on commentary, mostly through his Substack, op-eds, and posts on X, rather than through activism, fundraising, or travel. Across 2023 to 2026 his tone moved from balanced (calling Hamas's attack "unmitigated evil" while also questioning Israel's response) toward markedly harsher criticism of the Israeli government and military conduct in Gaza, including invoking Holocaust memory against Israel's current actions and describing the war as producing famine conditions. He has not called for BDS-style boycotts in any source found, and he has repeatedly separated criticism of the Netanyahu government's conduct from antisemitism, arguing the two are distinct.
The bottom line
Robert Reich does not currently support Israel's government or its Gaza war conduct. In a July 2025 essay he wrote that he is "no longer proud of Israel," while still condemning Hamas's October 7 attack as evil and stopping short of endorsing formal boycotts. His position reflects a documented shift over the course of the war rather than a lifelong stance, and it remains rooted in written commentary rather than organized advocacy against Israel.
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Last updated July 2026. We update these profiles as the record changes.
