Key Takeaways
- Azealia Banks says she feels safe after moving to Jaffa, explaining, “My babysitter died in 9/11… that shit can happen anywhere.”
- Banks says Israel’s “mature” arts scene and local music community have made her feel more creatively enabled than she has in years as she works on her album.
- Her relocation follows a 2018 vow never to return after alleged racist treatment and more recent social-media attacks on Muslims and Palestinian liberation.
Azealia Banks recently moved to Israel for some reason, but she’s not worried about her safety there.
In a preview of an upcoming interview with Eretov, Banks confirmed that she’s currently living in Jaffa and expressed her enthusiasm for her recent relocation.
“You know, this is a very special spot geographically, and it’s a blessing to be here,” she shared, as seen in the clip below.
“You’re never afraid of anything that can happen here?” the interviewer asked.
“No,” Banks responded. “No, honestly. My babysitter died in 9/11, like, honey, that shit can happen anywhere.”
Earlier this month, the Harlem native confirmed that she’s moved to Tel Aviv-Jaffa in Israel.
“If you would have told me years ago I’d end up moving to Tel Aviv and liking it, I would have said you’re crazy,” she wrote in a post shared on X, formerly Twitter. “I’m 5 hours away and here making my album FINALLY. I found some real camaraderie and some really cool music crew here and it’s ironically just been easier to create here because Israel's arts scene is really mature.”
She added that since relocating, she’s “the most creatively enabled” she’s felt “in years.” However, she has run into people taking issue with her political stances.
“Everyone in Israel thinks my political opinions fucking suck and think I have trash taste in men but no one is trying to sabotage me for that,” she wrote.
In 2018, she infamously performed at Tel Aviv’s Barby nightclub and vowed to never return after she allegedly faced racist treatment by the locals.
In recent years, however, she’s been highly critical of Islam and any efforts towards Palestinian liberation.
“African Muslims are pitiful and smelly," she wrote in an especially gross rant on social media last year. “Nobody cares you all are going to the concentration camp to stink together… blow em up… and do it fast.”
She also referred to Muslims as “weird kid fuckers.”
