Does Zendaya Support Israel?

Shelly Zimmerman Feb 20, 2025 4 min read

Short answer: As of July 2026, there is no public record of Zendaya supporting Israel. She has never visited Israel, appeared at an Israel-related event, or made a pro-Israel statement. Her documented engagement with the conflict leans the other way: in October 2023 she used Instagram to call for humanitarian relief for the children of Gaza and shared a donation link. Beyond that post she has said little publicly, and pro-Palestinian activists briefly added her to 2024 "block" lists for perceived silence. She is not Jewish. Her lone connection to Israeli culture is that her HBO series Euphoria is an adaptation of a 2012 Israeli show.

What Zendaya has actually said and done

June 2019: HBO's Euphoria premieres with Zendaya as Rue. As Times of Israel reported, the series is an American adaptation of the 2012 Israeli teen drama Euphoria (created by Ron Leshem and Daphna Levin for Hot3; Leshem and Levin co-produce the HBO version). This is Zendaya's only notable link to Israeli culture, and it is a professional casting, not a personal stance.
October 2023: After the October 7 Hamas attack and the start of the Gaza war, Zendaya used her Instagram to address the conflict. Her Instagram story called for urgent humanitarian relief for the children of Gaza and shared a donation link, as reported by Roya News. This is her most concrete early action on the conflict, and it points toward Palestinian humanitarian causes, not Israel.
October 30, 2023: An Artists4Ceasefire open letter to President Biden calling for a Gaza ceasefire is signed by hundreds of entertainers (an initial group of roughly 55 that expanded to 200 and more), including Jenna Ortega, Selena Gomez and Kristen Stewart, per Spectrum News. Zendaya is not among the signatories, despite frequent social-media confusion with Jenna Ortega. She has not attached her name to the major public ceasefire campaigns.
May 2024: During the Met Gala period, a social-media campaign ("Operation Blockout," also called Blockout 2024) circulates lists urging users to block celebrities seen as silent on Gaza. As Newsweek reported, Zendaya's name appears on these lists: activists credit her with the initial October 2023 pro-Palestinian post but criticize her for not speaking out more. This underscores that she is not viewed as pro-Israel, and is not a vocal activist on either side.
September 17, 2025: The star-studded "Together for Palestine" benefit concert (organized by Brian Eno at Wembley Arena, with proceeds going to Palestinian-led humanitarian relief) draws dozens of celebrities such as Florence Pugh, Nicola Coughlan and Benedict Cumberbatch, according to CNN. Zendaya does not participate. She has stayed out of the largest coordinated celebrity Gaza-relief event, consistent with her low profile on the issue.

Is Zendaya Jewish, and where the "boycott" talk comes from

Zendaya is not Jewish. Her father, Kazembe Ajamu Coleman (born Samuel David Coleman), is African-American, and her mother, Claire Stoermer, is of German and Scottish descent. There is no Jewish ancestry or affiliation in her documented background, so the common search "is Zendaya Jewish" resolves to no. The only Israel-adjacent thread in her career is professional and incidental: her breakout HBO drama Euphoria is an American remake of a 2012 Israeli series of the same name, co-produced for HBO by Israeli creators Ron Leshem and Daphna Levin. That is a casting and production fact, not a personal position on Israel.

Online debate about Zendaya and Israel is driven almost entirely by the Israel-Hamas war. She posted in October 2023 in support of Gaza's civilians, which pro-Palestinian users amplified, even as some criticized her for not doing more. A widely shared later claim that she personally raised $30 million for Gaza relief is unverified: that figure is the PCRF fundraiser's overall total, not a documented donation from her. Pro-Israel monitoring sites list her among celebrities they view as unfriendly, based on that relief post rather than any sustained campaign.

The bottom line

Zendaya is not a supporter of Israel, and she is not Jewish. Her documented engagement with the Israel-Palestine conflict is limited and points toward Palestinian humanitarian relief, not Israel: an October 2023 Instagram post backing Gaza relief (an appeal for Gaza's children with a PCRF donation link), with little else on the record. She has not signed the high-profile ceasefire letters, has not appeared at the big Palestinian benefit events, and has made no pro-Israel statements, visits, or donations. The record is thin, but what exists leans Palestinian-humanitarian. For a pro-Israel audience, the accurate read is that Zendaya is not an ally, though she is also not a loud, sustained anti-Israel activist.

Support Israel directly

When a famous name stays quiet, your own voice carries more weight than theirs. You do not need a celebrity to speak for you; you can wear the answer yourself. Our Support Israel collection is full of ways to show it plainly, from a simple I Stand With Israel bracelet to Star of David necklaces and IDF-inspired apparel. Every piece is a small, clear statement that does not wait for anyone else to make it first.

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