Short answer: No. As of August 2026, Tariq Ali, the Pakistani-British writer, historian, and New Left Review editor, remains a longtime, outspoken critic of Israel. He supports the BDS boycott movement, has described Israel's war in Gaza as a "live-streamed genocide," and in 2024 argued that recognizing a Palestinian state "means nothing," calling instead for countries to move toward "de-recognition" of Israel.
What Tariq Ali has actually said and done
August 18, 2014: In an interview with E-International Relations, Ali said he backs the BDS movement against Israel, breaking with fellow left intellectuals Noam Chomsky and Norman Finkelstein, who oppose the tactic. "I don't agree with the two N's on this question," he said. "I think they're wrong. What else can one do? It's the only alternative to non-violence."
July 22, 2024: Writing for Palestine Deep Dive,, Ali argued that international recognition of a Palestinian state "means nothing" and called instead for countries to pursue "de-recognition" of Israel, a step beyond most critics who focus only on statehood recognition.
September 10, 2024: On Democracy Now!, Ali criticized US and UK arms support for Israel's war in Gaza. He praised the scale of the pro-Palestinian movement in Britain and the United States and argued that a new generation had turned against Western backing for the war.
February 12, 2025: In a second Democracy Now! appearance, Ali said watching Gaza he "saw those images that I had observed in Vietnam again, and said, 'It's awful, what the Israelis are doing,'" describing the war as a "live-streamed genocide" and accusing the Trump administration of endorsing what he called ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the West Bank.
February 13, 2025: In a separate Democracy Now! interview tied to his memoir "You Can't Please All: Memoirs 1980-2024," Ali discussed decades of political writing, including his longstanding positions on the Middle East.
January 2026: Ali appeared on RT's Going Underground, discussing 2026 geopolitical crises including Venezuela, Iran, Greenland, and Ukraine, confirming he remains active and publicly engaged.
Who is Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali was born October 21, 1943, in Lahore, then part of British India, to Mazhar Ali Khan, a Communist Party journalist, and Tahira Mazhar Ali Khan, a leftist activist. His maternal grandfather, Sir Sikandar Hyat Khan, led the Punjab's Unionist Muslim League and served as its premier from 1937 to 1942. Ali's family background is Muslim Punjabi, and no Jewish-identity connection has been reported anywhere in his biography.
He moved to Britain in the 1960s, became a leading figure of the British New Left, and has edited New Left Review for decades while writing and filming extensively on imperialism, the Middle East, and Global South politics. His criticism of Israel is not new or reactive: he has consistently framed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a colonial and national-liberation struggle and has publicly backed the BDS boycott since at least 2014, a position that put him at odds even with fellow left intellectuals like Chomsky and Finkelstein. His language sharpened considerably during the Gaza war that began in October 2023, culminating in his 2024 call to move past symbolic statehood recognition toward active de-recognition of Israel, and his continued use of the word "genocide" in 2025 interviews tied to his memoir. No record exists of Ali making any statement favorable to Israel, participating in a pro-Israel event, or declining to join a boycott of the country.
The bottom line
Tariq Ali does not support Israel. He is a longstanding, vocal critic of Israeli policy who backs the BDS boycott movement and, especially since the Gaza war, has used the strongest available language, including "genocide," to describe Israel's conduct. He has gone further than most critics by calling for Israel's diplomatic de-recognition rather than simply recognizing Palestinian statehood.
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Last updated August 2026. We update these profiles as the record changes.
