Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Noa Kirel, Israel’s hottest singer, wore a Kanye West-printed outfit to Europe’s MTV awards

The outfit was meant to draw attention to antisemitism, Kirel told the Israeli broadcaster KAN

(JTA) — Noa Kirel won MTV Europe’s award for best Israeli artist for the fifth straight year on Sunday. But it was the outfit she wore to the awards ceremony that got everyone talking.

Kirel, 21, wore a halter top, elbow-length gloves and wide-legged pants all emblazoned with pictures of Kanye West, the rapper who has been embroiled in an antisemitism controversy. Gold chains with Star of David necklaces were affixed to the pictures of West’s head, and Kirel also wore a large Star of David necklace herself.

The outfit was meant to draw attention to antisemitism, Kirel told the Israeli broadcaster Kan, and to demonstrate that Kirel is “proud to be an Israeli artist who represents Israel in the world.”

“She wanted a crazy outfit that everyone would remember,” her stylist, Itai Bezaleli, told Kan. “She wanted something topical that will be talked about.”

Kirel broke into public view as a teenager and has scored pop hits in Israel for years, including during her recent service in the Israel Defense Forces. She will be Israel’s competitor in next year’s Eurovision song contest.

This article originally appeared on JTA.org.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.