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Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr slammed Israel in a new interview, telling The New Yorker that the country had passed on an opportunity to pursue peace after Oct. 7.
“Israel sought revenge for Oct. 7 and now 72,000 Palestinians have been killed and Israeli settlers are taking over the West Bank illegally, with the approval of Israel’s government and the U.S. Ambassador, Mike Huckabee,” Kerr said. “That’s not a path to any sort of peace or security for Israel or the rest of the Middle East.”
Kerr’s remarks likely make him the most famous American sportsman to criticize Israel since Oct. 7.
Kerr — whose father, Malcolm Kerr, was assassinated in Beirut in 1984 by an Iran-backed Shiite militia — emerged as an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump after the 2016 election. Since then, he has opined on a range of political issues from a liberal perspective, and was among the speakers at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.
As his coaching future with the Warriors — a team he guided to four NBA titles in 12 seasons — is currently a subject of speculation, one report has suggested that his desire to speak more candidly on politics has caused tension inside the franchise.
Asked by The New Yorker how he had been processing the wars in Lebanon and Iran, Kerr brought up the assassination of his father, who was president of the American University of Beirut at the time of his killing.
“The answer does not lie in starting a war and killing innocent people,” he said.
Kerr’s interview stands out in the landscape of American professional sports, which has produced relatively little commentary on Israel or the war. That’s been especially true in the NBA, in which Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving is likely the most notable example of pro-Palestinian expression: He has worn a kaffiyeh to a press conference, and made his Instagram profile picture a photo of Palestinian children behind a fence in the West Bank.
But Irving is a controversial figure with a history of antisemitism and off-the-wall statements. In 2022, he shared a Holocaust-denying film on Instagram and refused to disavow it.
Kerr, on the other hand, is widely respected around the NBA and among its fans after more than three decades as a basketball player, broadcaster and head coach.
The former Chicago Bulls sharpshooter did not spare the U.S. government in his interview, either. “I think we’re as weak as we’ve ever been as a country, at least in a long time, because our leadership is so misguided,” Kerr said. “There’s a lack of humility, a lack of dignity, a lack of understanding of the world, a lack of embracing other perspectives.”