When Azealia Banks picked up the phone, she clocked my New York accent in a second. The same sharp instinct and unfiltered candor that have built her career are now putting it in jeopardy.
The Harlem-born rapper has always been outspoken, but in recent months her public support of Israel has cost her dearly. Banks estimates she has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of bookings in the United Kingdom and the European Union alone after refusing to adopt pro-Palestinian slogans on stage during her performances.
“I lost a good 350,000 pounds’ worth of touring this summer for not saying ‘Free Palestine,’” she said flatly. “And I’m not gonna walk back anything that I said ’cause I meant everything I f***ing said.”
To make up for her hardship, inability to work with her team (they turned out to be antisemitic), and missing a number of shows, she’s coming to Tel Aviv for some creative time and a breather.
Just minutes into this writing, people throughout central Tel Aviv and the West Bank stopped what they were doing and ran into shelters to protect themselves from a Houthi-fired missile. I hope she gets the vacation she’s looking for.
Growing up in West Harlem
Banks grew up in West Harlem, in a neighborhood she recalls to have been a patchwork of Catholic and Jewish influences. Her mother, who once worked for a Jewish-owned business called Lee’s Art Shop, instilled in her a sense of familiarity and respect for the Jewish community. For Banks, New York was a place where Jews were simply part of the cultural fabric – not a target. The rapper noted that she had never heard her Jewish friends in New York having to discuss antisemitism until recently.
Banks was in for an even greater shock when she moved to Europe, hoping to grow her career alongside her sound engineers and producers.
“I’m gonna go over there and I’m gonna hit it big because being closer to the people I work with is gonna be amazing,” she thought. “Wrong. I just assumed that we had a pact in music. That whatever’s happening politically… whatever. We are still musicians and we’re still gonna make this money and do this. And I was really, really surprised to just see so many people openly antisemitic,” Banks said.
“You guys made it a crime to talk about fat people. Made it a crime to talk about Black people. Made it a crime to talk about trans women. But now it’s okay to talk about the Jews? I don’t get it,” she said.
Banks detailed how she was repeatedly accused of being a genocide supporter – just for refraining from joining in on the Jew-bashing.
“It’s common practice as a New Yorker to mind your business,” she explained. “We have Afghan people that live there in New York. We have a lot of Yemeni people. It’s just something that – out of courtesy – you just don’t talk about because you don’t really have the standing to talk about it. And you don’t know what you’re talking about!”
Banks feels that it’s not right to speak up on a topic you aren’t an expert about, so for a while she chose to stay out of the Israel-Palestine conflict because of her lack of understanding. But she reached a breaking point when she repeatedly watched her producers “talking shit about Jews.”
Festivals lost, labels burned
Banks recounted a series of cancellations: Two major festival bookings, a residency in Amsterdam, and scheduled appearances in Scotland and Newcastle all evaporated after she resisted calls to chant political slogans on stage.
“The fact that like, okay, when you book Azealia Banks, you know what you’re getting. You know that I come with a bunch of shit,” she says, her tone shifting from frustration to disbelief. “So, I booked these festivals, I’m headlining these festivals, the tickets are sold out, and then all of a sudden some group called Ravers for Palestine start boycotting and blacklisting me. I’m getting all this pressure from the promoters to say ‘Free Palestine.’ I’m just like, what the f*** is going on?”
Banks said it was at that point that she had to reconsider things.
“This is gonna ruin society as we know it. And the problem is that when you start capitulating to the woke mob... it’s always one thing after another. Like they’re having these Palestine Action recruitment drives at the festivals. Like, what the f** is that?” Banks said.
After a breath, she resumed: “I’m happy to come to Israel. Israel feels right. I know the Jews – like these are my people.” Ronn Torossian, an Israeli American friend of hers, will help coordinate the visit.
Banks discussed not wanting to “explain her humanity” and just wanting to come to Israel and stop having the discussions. It’s an experience many Jews from abroad encounter when they visit the Holy Land – living a Jewish lifestyle without having to explain it. She is getting a taste of what it feels like for Jews when they return from the Diaspora.
But the result of her choices not to give in to the pressure has been a financial bloodbath. Also upsetting was finding out that her booking agency is tied to charities funneling money into political causes she never agreed to endorse. Worse than that, she believes the charities could be scams.
Fleeing antisemitism – as a non-Jewish Black American woman
For Banks, the weight of ostracism abroad has created an unlikely outcome: Tel Aviv has become a refuge. “I have to come to Tel Aviv to get some work done because things are so tense in the UK,” she said. “People are really boycotting one another and policing one another… I just have to get away from people.”
The rapper noted that some bloggers even dug up a photo of an old flame of hers who was Jewish… in an effort to “out” her for being a Zionist.
“My voice is being hijacked for a cause. And they’re just like, ‘Oh, does she think a bunch of Zionists are gonna book her?’” Banks said. She went on to say she has indeed felt the support of Jewish people throughout her career and has had many Jewish bookings.
“This Palestinian lobby is now trying to deprive a Black woman of her right to f***ing work …an American Black woman of her right to work after they’ve used my name to advertise these shows, and then they want to throw me out,” Banks fumed.
“I’m the f***ing baby in the bathwater!” she exclaimed. “I’m never gonna support [them]. I’m never going to support that because one thing you don’t do in the West is come and tell an American woman, an American Black woman, that she has to go to church or that she has to believe this. You don’t tell a Black woman from New York City what to do. And furthermore, you don’t tell an American woman what she’s gonna do and what she’s not gonna do.”
Israel as a creative catalyst
Banks arrives in Israel for several weeks on October 3 just days before Israel commemorates two years of war since the heinous Oct. 7 massacre that killed 1,200 people near the Gaza border and saw some 250 taken captive. At the time of this writing, 48 remain hostage with only 20 thought to still be alive.
In Israel, Banks said, she can find the freedom to create without constantly justifying herself. “I need some freedom, and I’m gonna find that freedom in Tel Aviv… I’m going to take it back from people and their opinions.”
This won’t be Banks’s first trip to Israel. In 2018 she arrived with a Turkish security detail that Israelis were skeptical of. Banks hopes that with a renewed understanding of the country, she’ll be able to take it all in a little bit more.
“I was the only girl on the El Al flight with a little gay flag, crop top, and sparkly leggings. It was a culture shock, and nobody explained anything to me,” Banks said of her student exchange program. “But this time, I know better. This time I’m just gonna come on my own, or maybe I’ll have a makeup artist fly with me. We’re just gonna keep it light and healthy.”
Banks frames Zionism not just as a national movement but as a creative ethos akin to the birth of hip hop. “Zionism is to Jews what hip hop is to Black America,” she stated boldly during her interview with the Magazine. “It’s this manifesto, it’s this wish for the future – and it’s like dreams manifested into reality.”
She referred to what she describes as Zionist armchair visionaries, naming Chaim Weizmann, Max Nordau, Ze’ev Jabotinsky, and Theodor Herzl. She’s read their works and has recently focused on their impact.
“These visionaries just had a desire in their soul to imagine this world where the Jewish children can just play and be happy, you know? And… that’s exactly what hip hop was: creating this place and this space where Black people can feel safe and feel loved, and feel confident and all that stuff,” Banks suggested. “And when you look at Zionism and hip hop, they have both outgrown their creators. Zionism has outgrown Judaism!”
Banks is set to visit the Jabotinsky Institute during her tour of Israel, from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and beyond. She plans to meet politicians, high-profile artists, and visit Yad Vashem and the museum dedicated to Jabotinsky to continue her studies about him.
“Reading the way Jabotinsky writes about the Black experience… it’s not so sensational. It’s very to the point and very direct, and he’s not trying to use it [to bolster] himself. People really love to use the Black experience as a vehicle to push their own stuff, but Jabotinsky was just writing about it. He was just like, yo, this is crazy. On the backdrop, this idyllic backdrop of freedom for all and everything, there’s blatant discrimination against these people and it’s never gonna change,” Banks reflected.
“That’s really what kind of stuck out to me with Jabotinsky. Damn – he’s right!”
What comes next
Despite the financial hit and reputational bruising, Banks is pressing forward. She plans a string of performances in Israel and is determined to use her time in Tel Aviv to record new music. She promises that her fans will get “a cute little show” – but for her, the deeper purpose is about reclaiming her voice.
She admitted that the past year has been bruising: “It’s been one thing after another. It’s, ‘Oh, you’re a homophobe, now you hate yourself, now you support genocide,’” she said, exasperated. But she insisted that Israel will be different. “I really just wanna have a good time. I think that… all of these things where I have to second-guess myself or my relationships with people – it’s not a good place to create from.”
For Azealia Banks, Tel Aviv represents not just a tour stop but a lifeline – the place where she can breathe, rebuild, and reclaim the freedom to create.
“Is there anything you want to leave us with?” the Magazine asked her.
“I don’t. No. There’s things I wanna bring to you. So, I’m excited to come to Israel and just do that,” Banks said.
About Azealia Banks
Azealia Banks is an internationally acclaimed performer who is arriving in Israel on October 3 for a special multi-week visit. Known for her fearless voice, unapologetic personality, and outspoken political views, Banks continues to make waves in the music world and in public discourse. A Zionist who supports Israel and the Jewish state, she is coming to Israel to meet artists and explore the Israeli music scene.
Banks is a New York-born rapper, singer, songwriter, and actress. She broke into global recognition with her viral hit “212” in 2011, which became a worldwide anthem and launched her international career. Her debut album, Broke with Expensive Taste (2014), was praised for its genre-blending sound, mixing hip hop, house, electronic, and R&B.
Banks is also known for tracks such as “Liquorice,” “Luxury,” “Chasing Time,” and “Anna Wintour.”
She is known for blending underground club sounds with mainstream hip hop.
Beyond her music, Banks is recognized for her unfiltered political and cultural commentary. Unlike many mainstream celebrities, she has often taken contrarian, Right-leaning stances, openly criticizing progressive orthodoxy in Hollywood. She fights against “woke” culture and “cancel culture” and cares deeply about free speech.
“I’ve always stood my ground and spoken the truth – and I believe in Israel’s right to stand strong, too,” she said. “I’m thrilled to be spending time here, to connect with Israeli artists, and to experience firsthand the energy and creativity of this country.”