Does Nike Support Israel or Palestine?

Zach Mandel Nov 12, 2024 4 min read

Short answer: As of July 2026, Nike keeps a normal commercial presence in Israel. It runs its own Nike stores and an Israeli website, and it has a long sponsorship history in Israeli sport, most notably outfitting Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball for roughly 15 seasons through 2020/21. Nike takes no public political position on Israel or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and it is not on the official BDS movement consumer boycott list. The viral 2021 claim that Nike would stop selling in Israel or was boycotting the country was false. Nike did end wholesale supply to independent Israeli retailers in 2022, but that was part of a global strategy to cut third-party sellers everywhere and push shoppers to its own stores and site, not a move against Israel.

What Nike has actually said and done

2002-2003 season: Nike becomes the official kit and equipment sponsor of Maccabi Tel Aviv's basketball club, a relationship that runs for about 15 seasons through the 2020/21 season and spans multiple EuroLeague titles, per Maccabi Tel Aviv's official club site.
September 2021 (approx.): A viral Instagram slideshow claims Nike "will stop selling its products in Israeli stores" and is terminating all Israeli sales, fueling #BoycottNike-style confusion online, as documented by The Forward.
October 4, 2021: The Jerusalem Post reports Nike notified Israeli retailers it would stop supplying them, citing a "comprehensive review" and "the changing marketplace," with the termination set to take effect May 31, 2022. The Forward covered the same notice.
October 2021: The Forward debunks the boycott rumor. Nike is not boycotting Israel. The move is a global distribution strategy (cutting wholesale to independents, department stores, Amazon and Zappos worldwide) meant to steer buyers to Nike's own channels, and Nike is not closing its Nike-owned stores or website in Israel. The Jerusalem Post reported the same commercial reasoning.
May 31, 2022: Nike's termination of wholesale supply to independent Israeli retailers formally takes effect, while its own retail stores and Israeli e-commerce site keep operating normally, per The Jerusalem Post.
July 2026 (current): Nike remains absent from the official BDS movement's "What to Boycott" list. The BDS consumer targets include Chevron, Intel, HP, Microsoft, Carrefour, AXA, Reebok, SodaStream and RE/MAX, plus Puma as a past campaign. Nike is not named on any BDS tier, a point The Forward also underscored.

Where the boycott talk comes from

Nike gets swept into "does it support Israel?" searches for two reasons that point in opposite directions. On one side, pro-boycott activists periodically push #BoycottNike because Nike does business in Israel and has historically outfitted Israeli teams, most notably Maccabi Tel Aviv's basketball club, per the club's own site. On the other side, a 2021 rumor spread that Nike was abandoning Israel, which anti-boycott audiences read as Nike caving to BDS. Both framings distort the same underlying fact.

As The Jerusalem Post reported on October 4, 2021, Nike ended its supply relationship with independent Israeli retailers effective May 31, 2022. As The Forward documented, that was Nike's worldwide pivot away from third-party wholesale (it cut independents, department stores, Amazon and Zappos globally in the same period) to concentrate sales in company-owned stores and its own website. Nike did not close its Israeli stores or site, and it issued no political statement about Israel.

Crucially, the official Palestinian-led BDS movement does not list Nike among its boycott targets. Its current list includes Reebok, SodaStream, Carrefour, HP and Intel, and it cites Puma as a past win. Nike takes no public stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Reports tying Nike's 2025 revenue decline to Muslim-country boycotts come mostly from pro-boycott outlets, while Nike's downturn is widely covered as a broad, company-wide slump, so that specific attribution should be treated as unverified rather than established fact.

The bottom line

Nike sells in Israel through its own stores and website and has a real sponsorship history in Israeli sport, but it stays deliberately apolitical and makes no pro-Israel or anti-Israel statements. It is not on the official BDS boycott list. The recurring "Nike is boycotting Israel" story is false: Nike's 2022 exit from Israeli wholesale retail was a global commercial reshuffle, not a political stand. If you want a brand that actively and openly supports Israel, Nike is neutral, not aligned.

Wear your own answer

When a global brand stays neutral, the clearest way to show where you stand is to wear it yourself. Our I Stand With Israel collection puts the message on shirts, hats and accessories that make your support unmistakable, no corporate press release required. Every piece is designed for people who would rather say it plainly than wait for a company to take a side.

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