Does Banksy Support Israel?

Shelly Zimmerman Feb 21, 2025 Updated Jul 27, 2026 3 min read

Short answer: No. Banksy, the anonymous British street artist, does not support Israel's policies. Since 2005 his work in the region, from stencils on the West Bank separation wall to murals in Gaza to the Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem, has consistently taken a pro-Palestinian, anti-occupation stance, and he has continued that pattern through the 2023-2025 Gaza war. He has no known Jewish identity (his identity is unconfirmed and anonymous), and some of his pieces have drawn accusations of antisemitism from Israeli figures and watchdog groups, which he has not addressed publicly.

What Banksy has actually said and done

2005: Banksy travels to the West Bank and paints nine stenciled images directly on Israel's separation barrier, including the well-known "Flower Thrower" (Love Is In The Air), as reported by The National.
February 2015: Banksy enters Gaza through a smuggling tunnel and paints murals, a kitten, children on a watchtower swing, a Greek goddess, on ruins of homes destroyed in the 2014 Israel-Hamas conflict, releasing a short film criticizing the blockade. Covered by CBC News and Al Jazeera.
2017: Banksy opens the "Walled Off Hotel" in Bethlehem directly facing the separation wall, marketed as having "the worst view in the world," displaying his art alongside Palestinian artists' work, per Gulf News.
November 2018: Israeli art collector Batia Ofer publicly accuses Banksy of spreading antisemitic propaganda over a shared Instagram poster mocking Israeli military watchtowers; Banksy does not respond, according to Artnet News and The New Arab.
October 2023: The Walled Off Hotel closes following the October 7 Hamas attack and the outbreak of the Gaza war; management calls it "not an easy decision" made "during the devastating assault on Gaza," per The Art Newspaper.
December 2023: Amid the Israel-Hamas war, Banksy unveils a new piece in London: a red STOP sign with three military drones affixed, widely read as a call for a Gaza ceasefire. It is stolen by bolt-cutter-wielding thieves within an hour; two men are later arrested. Reported by The Art Newspaper and Deadline.
December 2025: The Walled Off Hotel reopens, described by management as "a powerful cultural platform that carries the narrative of Palestine" and "a vehicle for the amplification of voices of peace," with the original 20+ Banksy works still on display, per The Art Newspaper.

Is Banksy Jewish, and how does this fit the broader picture?

Banksy is an anonymous British street artist active since the 1990s; his identity has never been officially confirmed, so there is no verified information about his religion or ethnicity and no basis for any claim about Jewish identity or heritage. His engagement with Israel runs almost exclusively through his art rather than personal statements, interviews, or donations, consistent with his general practice of communicating only through anonymous public works and occasional statements posted to his own website or Instagram.

The throughline across two decades, the 2005 West Bank wall stencils, the 2015 Gaza murals, the 2017 Walled Off Hotel, and the 2023-2025 work tied to the current war, is criticism of Israeli military and separation-barrier policy paired with solidarity with Palestinians. This reading is shared by mainstream outlets and by pro-Israel commentators alike, including an Israeli art collector's public complaint in 2018. One watchdog group has separately flagged a different Banksy piece, a nativity-themed installation in Bethlehem, as evoking imagery some critics consider antisemitic, a characterization Banksy has not responded to. No evidence has surfaced of Banksy expressing support for Israel, donating to Israeli causes, or appearing at pro-Israel events. At the same time, there is no evidence he has formally joined the BDS cultural boycott campaign either, since his work in Gaza and Bethlehem requires operating in the region rather than boycotting it outright.

The bottom line

Banksy does not support Israel. Across two decades of work, from the 2005 separation-wall stencils through the 2015 Gaza murals, the Walled Off Hotel, and his December 2023 Gaza-ceasefire piece, his public output has been consistently critical of Israeli military and barrier policy and sympathetic to Palestinians, drawing antisemitism accusations from some Israeli figures and pro-Israel watchdogs that he has not publicly addressed. He has no confirmed Jewish identity; his identity remains anonymous.

Support Israel directly

Art can send a message, but so can what you wear and give. If you want your own answer to be unambiguous, our Support Israel collection is built for that, including the straightforward I Stand With Israel t-shirt, a simple, wearable way to state where you stand, no anonymity required.

Last updated July 2026. We update these profiles as the record changes.