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In notable stand, Israel’s ambassador to US says ‘trans rights are human rights’
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Israeli ambassador to the United States, Michael Herzog, who represents the most right-wing government in the country’s history, called for a stand against “intolerance and bigotry” targeting the LGBTQ community in the United States and Israel.
“We must also recognize the many challenges that remain, and actively take a stand against those voices — in Israel, here in the U.S. and across the globe — who seek to spread intolerance and bigotry,” Herzog said at a Pride event Thursday at the Israeli embassy. “The struggle for LGBTQ+ rights is far from over, and there must be open cooperation between government and civil society to achieve this important goal.”
Herzog also embraced rights for transgender people, a fraught issue in the current U.S. political climate. He finished by saying, “Gay rights are human rights! Trans rights are human rights! And ultimately — love prevails.”
The embassy has for years hosted a Pride event in June, during Pride month. But rights for the LGBTQ community have drawn intensified conservative opposition in the last year or so, both in Israel and the United States. There are hundreds of proposed laws initiated by Republicans at the state and federal level that would roll back some LGBTQ rights and restrict gender-affirming health care.
Herzog’s unapologetic defense of LGBTQ rights is more notable given the fact that there are a number of self-declared “homophobes” in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition.
The headline speaker at the event was Rachel Levine, the Jewish and openly transgender assistant U.S. Secretary for Health, appearing in person, in her uniform as an admiral, the rank conferred on assistant secretaries of health. Last year Levine delivered a video message to the event.
Levine also spoke out for transgender rights. “This has been a very hard year for transgender people and trans youth in particular, across the United States,” she said, referring to the wave of anti-trans bills that have arisen over the past year.
“These ideological and politically motivated attacks in numerous states are not grounded in science, or evidence of any kind. Gender-affirming care is essential health care!” she said to applause.
Netta Barzilai appears at a Pride event at the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. on June 29, 2023. (Shmulik Almany, Embassy of Israel)
The featured performer was Netta Barzilai, the Israeli winner of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest who has become a favorite of the LGBTQ community. Accompanying herself on a looping machine, she sang four songs that she said encouraged the embrace of one’s identity, including “Toy,” the Eurovision-winning song, and “I Love My Nails.” The lyrics include: “I, I love my nails, I, I love my nails/Oh my God, I can’t stop looking at myself.”
Introducing the song, Netta, as she is known onstage, said she learned to love herself at the manicurist. “I made myself so unique and peculiar that nobody could compare me to anyone,” she said. “And after that, I became so confident, so in love with [my] physique, I’m so in love with my personality that nobody could ever take that away from me.”
The Pride event Thursday was unlike previous affairs at the embassy, which had mainly been occasions for speeches. Guests were encouraged to wear bold colors and clothing. Herzog’s wife Shirin wore a tuxedo shirt with a pink men’s tie featuring a penguin pattern. (Penguins, who occasionally pair as same sex couples, are an LGBTQ symbol.)
Cocktails flowed freely, in the colors of the Pride flag: sangria (red); whiskey sour (orange); tequila sunrise (yellow); mojito (green); blue lagoon (blue); and purple rain (purple).
Herzog’s brother is the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, who is addressing Congress on July 19 to mark 75 years of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
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The post In notable stand, Israel’s ambassador to US says ‘trans rights are human rights’ appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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UN Security Council Meets on Iran as Russia, China Push for a Ceasefire
Members of the Security Council cast a vote during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the 3rd anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at UN headquarters in New York, US, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/David Dee Delgado
The U.N. Security Council met on Sunday to discuss US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites as Russia, China and Pakistan proposed the 15-member body adopt a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Middle East.
It was not immediately clear when it could be put to a vote. The three countries circulated the draft text, said diplomats, and asked members to share their comments by Monday evening. A resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, France, Britain, Russia or China to pass.
The US is likely to oppose the draft resolution, seen by Reuters, which also condemns attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites and facilities. The text does not name the United States or Israel.
“The bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities by the United States marks a perilous turn in a region that is already reeling,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Sunday. “We now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation.”
“We must act – immediately and decisively – to halt the fighting and return to serious, sustained negotiations on the Iran nuclear program,” Guterres said.
The world awaited Iran’s response on Sunday after President Donald Trump said the US had “obliterated” Tehran’s key nuclear sites, joining Israel in the biggest Western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution.
U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that while craters were visible at Iran’s enrichment site buried into a mountain at Fordow, “no one – including the IAEA – is in a position to assess the underground damage.”
Grossi said entrances to tunnels used for the storage of enriched material appear to have been hit at Iran’s sprawling Isfahan nuclear complex, while the fuel enrichment plant at Natanz has been struck again.
“Iran has informed the IAEA there has been no increase in off-site radiation levels at all three sites,” said Grossi, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran requested the U.N. Security Council meeting, calling on the 15-member body “to address this blatant and unlawful act of aggression, to condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
Israel‘s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement on Sunday that the U.S. and Israel “do not deserve any condemnation, but rather an expression of appreciation and gratitude for making the world a safer place.”
Danon told reporters before the council meeting that it was still early when it came to assessing the impact of the U.S. strikes. When asked if Israel was pursuing regime change in Iran, Danon said: “That’s for the Iranian people to decide, not for us.”
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Israel Rejects Critical EU Report Ahead of Ministers’ Meeting
FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
Israel has rejected a European Union report saying it may be breaching human rights obligations in Gaza and the West Bank as a “moral and methodological failure,” according to a document seen by Reuters on Sunday.
The note, sent to EU officials ahead of a foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, said the report by the bloc’s diplomatic service failed to consider Israel’s challenges and was based on inaccurate information.
“The Foreign Ministry of the State of Israel rejects the document … and finds it to be a complete moral and methodological failure,” the note said, adding that it should be dismissed entirely.
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Pope Leo Urges International Diplomacy to Prevent ‘Irreparable Abyss’
FILE PHOTO: Pope Leo XIV holds a Jubilee audience on the occasion of the Jubilee of Sport, at St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican June 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yara Nardi/File Photo
Pope Leo on Sunday said the international community must strive to avoid war that risks opening an “irreparable abyss,” and that diplomacy should take the place of conflict.
US forces struck Iran’s three main nuclear sites overnight, joining an Israeli assault in a major new escalation of conflict in the Middle East as Tehran vowed to defend itself.
“Every member of the international community has a moral responsibility: to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss,” Pope Leo said during his weekly prayer with pilgrims.
“No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, the stolen future. Let diplomacy silence the weapons, let nations chart their future with peace efforts, not with violence and bloody conflicts,” he added.
“In this dramatic scenario, which includes Israel and Palestine, the daily suffering of the population, especially in Gaza and other territories, risks being forgotten, where the need for adequate humanitarian support is becoming increasingly urgent,” Pope Leo said.
The post Pope Leo Urges International Diplomacy to Prevent ‘Irreparable Abyss’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.