Azealia Banks Defies Music Industry Boycott, Heads to Israel To Perform in October 7 Memorial

Months after publicly declaring herself a “Zionist,” American singer-songwriter Azealia Banks will travel to Israel next week to perform in commemoration of the two-year anniversary of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre.Ms. Banks shared her extensive itinerary online, detailing plans to visit the site of the Nova music festival attack, tour Yad Vashem, meet with Israel Defense Forces soldiers, take a dip in the Dead Sea, and visit a Tel Aviv institute dedicated to Revisionist Zionism leader Vladimir Jabotinsky.The trip, expected to span several weeks, will mark the Harlem-based rapper’s first return to Israel since 2018, when she vowed never to come back following alleged racist incidents and mistreatment. In June, Ms. Banks appeared to reverse course on Israel, proudly identifying as a “Zionist” and declaring that “no black person should be supporting Palestine.”In a post on X, the 34-year-old performer — who is of African American descent and neither Jewish nor Israeli — expressed excitement about “coming back” to Israel to “get a real experience without the drama and the bs.” She added that she’s ready to “connect, vibe, love, remember, and CELEBRATE the LIFE & LOVE of the place.”Since declaring her pro-Israel stance over the summer, Ms. Banks has become one of Israel’s most vocal online defenders in its war against Hamas. She has also been outspoken in criticizing Islam and the Arab world, particularly regarding their treatment of black people.“Sorry but I’m never going to be Pro-Islam anything so long as Arab/Muslim countries hold black people in chains,” she wrote in June. The same day she denounced the “Arab world” for pushing “this oppressed victim” narrative as if “they aren’t RAMPANTLY enslaving and degrading Africans behind closed doors.”While many in the Jewish community have welcomed Ms. Banks, others remain hesitant, citing her tendency to share controversial and conspiratorial theories about both Jews and Arabs — including the claim that “the Jews and the Muslims have the highest percentages of inbreeding the world over.”Still, Ms. Banks’s embrace of Israel stands in stark contrast to the attitudes of many fellow artists. In recent weeks, more than 400 artists and labels, including Bjork and Paramore, have moved to block their music from streaming in Israel under the “No Music for Genocide” initiative.Ms. Banks denounced the boycotters for holding Israel to a double standard and accused them of “using Palestinian suffering to refurbish their back catalogues.”The “212” singer’s position has come at a price. Over the summer, Ms. Banks withdrew from two U.K.-based music festivals after promoters allegedly pressured her to publicly support the Free Palestine movement.“I lost a good 350,000 pounds’ worth of touring this summer for not saying ‘Free Palestine,’” Ms. Banks told the Jerusalem Post this week. “And I’m not gonna walk back anything that I said ’cause I meant everything I f—ing said.”

Azealia Banks Defies Music Industry Boycott, Heads to Israel To Perform in October 7 Memorial

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