Succumbing to BDS is ‘totally anti-Semitic,’ declares US pop singer

American rapper, songwriter and actress Azealia Banks fired back at those who castigated her for planning to perform in Tel Aviv.

By: Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Twenty-six-year-old Azealia Banks is known for speaking – and rapping – about whatever is on her mind, a habit that has gotten her into trouble, especially on social media. She doesn’t back down from a fight either, having survived a rough childhood in Harlem, New York which toughened her up in many ways.

So after announcing on Instagram that she was fulfilling her Israeli fans’ wishes and coming to perform in the Jewish state this spring, she was not deterred when some of her fans decried her decision, falling back on the Palestinians’ portrayal of the Israeli government and other common BDS tropes as justification for boycotting Israel.

Banks, for her part, got right down to the heart of the problem with BDS in two sentences in a subsequent comment on her own post, calling out the double standards applied to the Jewish state in contrast to the rest of the world.

“My fans in Israel have been waiting years for me to come,” she said. “I too live in a country which has its issues but I cannot hold my fans in America responsible for our country’s problems and deny them the right to a good time.”

“Me cancelling my concert would be totally anti-Semitic,” she continued, “and I’m not going to EVER make any of my fans feel like they don’t have a place in my heart. I’m going to Tel-Aviv … and that is THE END OF THE DISCUSSION.”

Banks starred in her first movie last year, a rap romance called “Love Beats Rhymes,” with her next studio album “Fantasea II: The Second Wave” set for release in March.

She is slated to perform in Tel Aviv on May 7th.