Short answer: As of July 2026, there is no evidence that The Weeknd supports Israel. His documented public record on the Israel/Palestine conflict leans the other way: in May 2021 he shared Instagram posts opposing the Sheikh Jarrah evictions in East Jerusalem, and from December 2023 onward he directed more than $4.5 million from his XO Humanitarian Fund through the UN World Food Programme specifically to Gaza. He has never performed in Israel, has no known Jewish connection, and has made no pro-Israel statements. His own framing is humanitarian rather than a political declaration, so read his stance as sympathetic to Palestinians and silent on any support for Israel.
What The Weeknd has actually said and done
Here is the documented record, in order, each item drawn from a named outlet.
- May 11, 2021: The Weeknd shared several Instagram stories protesting the planned eviction of Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem, including protest artwork reading "Free Jerusalem" and "Palestinians Will Remain." Haaretz reported the posts.
- October 2021: The Weeknd was appointed a United Nations World Food Programme Goodwill Ambassador, and he later launched the XO Humanitarian Fund to fight global hunger, per the UN World Food Programme.
- December 1, 2023: He directed $2.5 million from the XO Humanitarian Fund to the WFP's emergency response in Gaza, equivalent to about four million meals (820 metric tons of food) to feed over 173,000 Palestinians for two weeks, according to the UN World Food Programme and The Jerusalem Post.
- April 29, 2024: He pledged an additional $2 million from the fund to the WFP for Gaza, funding roughly 1,500 metric tons of fortified wheat flour (about 18 million loaves of bread) to feed more than 157,000 Palestinians for a month, and he urged fans to donate. The UN World Food Programme announced the pledge and Variety reported it.
- April 29, 2024: Rolling Stone and Billboard reported that second Gaza pledge, framing his cumulative giving as one of the largest single-artist contributions to Gaza relief. No pro-Israel statement or offsetting donation to Israeli causes was reported.
No Jewish connection, and a one-directional record
The Weeknd was born Abel Makkonen Tesfaye in Toronto, Canada, to Ethiopian immigrant parents, and was raised in the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian tradition. He sang in his church choir and spoke Amharic before English. He has no Jewish heritage or publicly stated Jewish identity, so the question here is purely about political and humanitarian stance, not personal background.
On the conflict itself, the documented record points one way, toward Palestinians. Haaretz reported his May 2021 Sheikh Jarrah solidarity posts, and the UN World Food Programme's own newsroom documents the December 2023 ($2.5 million) and April 2024 ($2 million) donations earmarked for Gaza. His giving is not exclusively Gaza-focused: earlier XO Humanitarian Fund money went to famine relief in Ethiopia, and the WFP frames all of it as neutral humanitarian food aid rather than a political endorsement. There are no reputable reports of him performing in Israel, meeting Israeli officials, or making any statement supportive of Israel.
One caution worth flagging: a claim circulated online that The Weeknd "does not recognize Israel as a legitimate state." That line surfaced only in AI-generated search summaries and TikTok pages, with no reputable outlet carrying it. We could not verify it, it is likely fabricated, and we do not treat it as fact.
The bottom line
The sourced answer is no: The Weeknd does not support Israel in any public way, and his only documented engagement with the issue (the 2021 Sheikh Jarrah posts and over $4.5 million in Gaza-directed WFP donations) reflects sympathy for Palestinians framed as humanitarian aid. There is no Jewish connection and no pro-Israel record. For a pro-Israel audience, he is best described as a Palestinian-sympathetic humanitarian donor, not an ally of Israel, and not a hostile activist beyond those posts and donations.
Wear your own answer
When a global superstar stays silent or leans the other way, your own voice matters more, not less. You can answer the question for yourself plainly: an I Stand With Israel bracelet or a piece from our Support Israel collection says where you stand without a press release. Every order backs Israeli-made design and the people behind it.
Related
Last updated July 2026. We update these profiles as the record changes.
