Short answer: No, Nicki Minaj has never made an explicit public statement declaring support for, or opposition to, Israel or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She has never visited or performed in Israel. What exists instead is a handful of friendly gestures toward Jewish culture and a few politically charged flashpoints, none of which amount to a formal position. A wave of viral claims that spread online in 2026, that she was "planning a Tel Aviv concert" or "follows Netanyahu," trace only to low-credibility social media accounts and could not be confirmed by any reputable news outlet. They should be treated as unverified rumor, not fact. As of August 2026.
What Nicki Minaj has actually said and done
November 7, 2014: Minaj's lyric video for "Only" featured Nazi-styled imagery, including uniforms, armbands, and a Third Reich-style rally aesthetic, and it debuted on the anniversary of Kristallnacht. The Anti-Defamation League's Abraham Foxman condemned it as evoking Third Reich propaganda, and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and ABC News covered the criticism. Billboard reported that Minaj then apologized on Twitter, saying she did not create the concept but took "full responsibility" and would "never condone Nazism" in her art.
April 25, 2015: Minaj performed at a New York bar mitzvah at the Pierre Hotel in Manhattan, reportedly for a fee in the low hundreds of thousands, and posted a congratulatory "Mazel Tov!" According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and the Times of Israel, the gig came months after the Nazi-imagery controversy and was read by many as a goodwill gesture toward the Jewish community.
July 2019: Minaj withdrew from a scheduled festival performance in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, citing LGBT rights and women's rights concerns in the kingdom, per the Times of Israel. This was not Israel-related, but it shows she has, at least once, declined a Middle East booking on human-rights grounds.
February 2020: Minaj called Larry David an inspiration and, discussing his and Judge Judy's success, remarked "it must be a Jewish thing," according to the Times of Israel. It was a friendly, offhand comment about Jewish achievement rather than any statement on Israel.
January 26, 2024: After conservative commentator Ben Shapiro released the diss track "Facts" referencing her, Minaj responded warmly on X, calling the song "not bad," congratulating him on hitting number one on iTunes, and joking that backlash to her reaction would be "delayed." As Forbes and The Hill reported, some fans criticized her for seeming to embrace Shapiro, a prominent pro-Israel voice, though she made no statement about Israel itself.
June 2024: Minaj headlined Morocco's Mawazine Festival despite organized boycott calls tied to the Gaza war. The New Arab reported that Moroccan activists specifically objected to inviting "big artists such as Nicki Minaj" who had "never spoken up against the war." She performed anyway to a reported 200,000-person crowd and called it one of her best experiences, according to Morocco World News. She still has made no on-record statement about the war or Israel.
The rumors, and why they don't hold up
Nicki Minaj (born Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty, Trinidad and Tobago, 1982) has no Jewish heritage and no confirmed personal or business ties to Israel. Her closest brushes with Jewish culture are the well-paid 2015 New York bar mitzvah performance and the 2020 offhand compliment about Larry David and Judge Judy. Neither is a statement about Israel.
A batch of claims circulated widely in March 2026 asserting Minaj was "planning a Tel Aviv concert" ("My Barbz in Israel, get ready"), that a Tel Aviv show would be "sponsored by Netanyahu," and that she had started following Netanyahu on X. Tracing these back, every version originates from social media rumor and parody accounts rather than wire services or entertainment trade press. One "fact-check" site that appeared to confirm the Netanyahu-follow claim was itself built around a fabricated geopolitical scenario that does not match any real event. No outlet like AP, Reuters, Billboard, or Variety has carried a Tel Aviv concert announcement or a Netanyahu-follow story. These claims are unverified internet rumor, not fact.
The one genuinely controversial episode tying Minaj to Nazi-era antisemitic imagery, the 2014 "Only" video, was about her use of Holocaust-adjacent imagery in a video, not a statement on Israel, and she apologized for it. Nothing in the public record shows Minaj making a boycott pledge against Israel, unlike some peers who joined similar campaigns, and nothing shows her donating to Israeli causes, appearing in Israel, or issuing a formal pro-Israel statement either.
The bottom line
Nicki Minaj has not taken a public position, for or against, on Israel. The closest things to a real record are goodwill gestures toward Jewish culture (the 2015 bar mitzvah gig, the 2020 compliment to Larry David) and two moments that drew backlash from her own fanbase for seeming Israel-adjacent or right-leaning (the 2024 Ben Shapiro exchange, performing at Morocco's Mawazine Festival in 2024 despite Gaza-war boycott pressure), none of which is an actual statement about Israel. Viral 2026 claims that she is planning a Tel Aviv concert or follows Netanyahu are unconfirmed rumor with no reputable-outlet backing and should not be repeated as fact.
Show your own answer, clearly
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Last updated August 2026. We update these profiles as the record changes.
